Bengal reports 812 new COVID-19 cases

Kolkata, Mar 28: West Bengal on Saturday reported 812 new COVID-19 cases, the highest in the last three months, a health department bulletin said.

The COVID-19 tally in the state rose to 5,83,839, with the 812 new cases, it said.

Two new fatalities in the last 24 hours, pushed the coronavirus death toll to 10,322, it added

At least 433 people have recovered from the disease since Friday, taking the total number of recoveries to 5,68,909, the bulletin said.

The COVID-19 recovery state in the state now is 97.44 per cent.

West Bengal currently has 4,608 active COVID-19 cases, it said, adding that a total of 90,86,532 samples have been tested for COVID-19.

Meanwhile, an official of the Health department said 1,65,212 people were vaccinated in the state on Saturday.

"Around 1,54,426 people took the first dose and 10,820 took the second dose. A total of 1,45,317 citizens in the priority age group were vaccinated," he said, adding that so far 46.72 lakh people have been vaccinated in West Bengal.

Meanwhile, in the backdrop of the rising number of COVID-19 cases, the state government has issued an advisory urging people to restrict celebrations of Dol Yatra and Holi "within the family".

"As the virus is mutating, the infection rate may increase any moment. It suggested not to arrange any procession or congregation in the upcoming festival and asked people to maintain COVID protocol. It also suggested making proper arrangements for people at religious places on Holi to ensure physical distancing," the advisory issued by the state health department said.