Man donates body for COVID-19 research

New Delhi, Jan 29: In perhaps the first such case in the country, a cancer patient in the city who turned COVID positive before his death donated his body for medical research into the contagion on Friday in which West Bengal reported 3805 fresh cases, PTI reported.

An official said the 89-year-old Nirmal Das was a resident of New Town area of the city.

"Nirmalbabu's body will be donated to the forensic department of RG Kar Medical College on Saturday," he said.

A health department bulletin said with the fresh cases the tally in the disease in the state rose to 19,86,667.

The city accounted for the highest number of 481 new cases, followed by North 24 Parganas district which reported 438 fresh cases, it said.

The state registered 34 fatalities which pushed the toll to 20,515, the bulletin said.

There were nine Covid-19 deaths in North 24 Parganas district and eight in the city, it said.

In the last 24 hours, 13,767 recoveries were reported taking the total number of people recovering from the disease to 19,20,423. The discharge rate improved to 96.67 per cent.

The number of active cases improved by 9,996 to 45,729, according to the bulletin.

In the last 24 hours, 61,883 samples were tested in Bengal taking the total number of samples tested here to 2,30,64,032, the bulletin said.

On Friday at least 4,58,584 doses of coronavirus vaccine were administered in the state, the official said.
(PTI)