COVID-19: West Bengal's single-day spike crosses 1,000 for first time

The daily spike in COVID-19 cases in West Bengal breached the 1,000-mark for the first time on Thursday (July 9) with 1,088 fresh infections and 27 new related fatalities being reported in the last 24 hours. This came on a day when a seven-day lockdown began in the containment zones in the state to prevent the further spread of the infection.

With today’s development, the novel coronavirus tally in the state has now risen to 25,911 cases and 854 related fatalities. As per Thursday’s health bulletin, 534 previously infected patients were discharged today, taking the recovery count to 16,826.

The state has been reporting new highs in the daily cases over the past the few days. But this is the first time the single-day count breached the 1,000-mark, while the previous high reported in the state was 986 on Wednesday.

The state government has listed 25 containment zones across state capital Kolkata, while 93 have been identified in North 24 Parganas district, 54 in South 24 Parganas and 56 in Howrah. These are the top four hotspot districts in the state.

The government has now clubbed together the containment zones and buffer zones around them to constitute ‘broad-based’ containment zones, where a total lockdown was imposed from 5 pm on Thursday, officials said.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had on Wednesday said that the lockdown will be in place for a week, after which the situation will be reviewed. She had also directed police to firmly deal with those violating the lockdown norms.

Related news: Bengal to impose total lockdown in containment zones from July 9 evening

Police personnel were seen patrolling the streets in the containment zones and even asking pedestrians to return home and shopkeepers to down shutters. Barricades have also been put up outside such zones to stop vehicular movement.

Ahead of the lockdown, people resorted to panic-buying in several areas, disregarding the social distancing norms, the officials said, adding that long queues were witnessed outside grocery stores and LPG outlets.

Police resorted to using mild force in some places to ensure safety protocols were adhered to, besides asking people through public address systems to stay indoors. The government has said it will make arrangements for home delivery of essential commodities during the lockdown.

(With inputs from agencies)