NEW DELHI: At least three states in the country, led by
Bengal
, have started showing signs of a spike in Covid-19 infections after
Durga Puja/Dussehra
celebrations last week, although in absolute terms the numbers are not big so far.
Bengal reported 974 fresh cases of the virus on Saturday, the highest single-day count in the state in over three months since July 10 this year. The daily case count in Bengal has been over 800 in the past four days. The other two states witnessing a rise in cases this week are
Assam and
Himachal Pradesh
.
India on Saturday recorded 15,918 fresh Covid-19 cases, with data from Manipur and
Jharkhand
not available till late at night. In Bengal, there has been a clear spike in infections this week. In the last seven days, the state has detected 5,560 fresh cases, a 28.4% rise over the previous seven days (4,329). This percentage rise could be an exaggeration since detection of cases was hit during the Durga Puja festival last week. However, even a comparison of the last seven days’ case count with the number three weeks ago (5,038) gives a 10.4% increase in cases.
Meanwhile, Assam has seen a 50.4% spike in fresh cases in the last seven days. The state recorded 2,187 new infections during this period as compared with 1,454 in the seven previous days.
In Himachal Pradesh, the seven-day case count has seen a spurt of 38.4%. The state logged 1,265 cases in the last seven days as opposed to 914 in the previous seven. On Saturday, Himachal Pradesh reported 257 fresh cases, the highest in over a month since 345 cases were reported on September 21. On Saturday, Kerala continued to account for a major chunk of cases in the country, with 8,909 new infections.
Maharashtra reported 1,701 fresh cases, followed by 1,140 by Tamil Nadu.
There were 159 deaths from the virus reported on Saturday, down from 202 and 231 in the past two days. Kerala recorded 65 deaths, down from 99 on Friday, while Maharashtra reported 33 fatalities, Tamil Nadu 17 and Bengal 12.
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