Bengal reports 612 new COVID-19 cases, 16 fresh fatalities

West Bengal's COVID-19 tallymounted to 5,61,321 on Monday as 612 more people testedpositive for the infection, a health bulletin said.

Sixteen more people, including a Kolkata Policepersonnel, succumbed to the infection, pushing the state'scoronavirus death toll to 9,957, it said.

As many as 939 more people have been cured of thedisease, taking the recovery rate among the coronaviruspatients in the state to 96.98 per cent, the bulletin said.

Kolkata reported the highest number of new cases at164, followed by North 24 Parganas (162), it said.

North 24 Parganas reported the highest number of freshfatalities at six, followed by two in South 24 Parganas andone each in Hooghly and Howrah districts, the bulletin said.

The state now has 7,538 active cases, while 5,43,826people have recovered from the disease so far, it said.

West Bengal has so far tested over 74.64 lakh samplesfor COVID-19, including 23,313 in the last 24 hours, thebulletin said.

A 53-year-old police driver succumbed to the infectionduring the day, taking the coronavirus death toll in the forceto 22, a senior officer said.

Samar Kumar Ghosh, posted at the Headquarter Force,was deputed to Jorabagan police station, he said.

Over 3,400 policemen of the force have been afflictedwith the disease to date. Twenty-four of them are undergoingtreatment at present, the officer said.