West Bengal minister tests positive for COVID-19 as state records highest single-day spike of 344 cases

West Bengal on Thursday registered the highest one-day spike of coronavirus cases with 344 people testing positive for COVID-19.

Team Newsable

Kolkata, First Published May 29, 2020, 2:19 PM IST | Last Updated May 29, 2020, 2:19 PM IST

Kolkata: A minister in West Bengal has tested positive for COVID-19, making it the first such case in the Mamata Banerjee-led state Cabinet.

State Fire Services minister Sujit Bose has been advised to undergo home quarantine after his test results showed that he was COVID-19 positive.

A domestic help at the minister's residence was diagnosed with the disease, following which samples of Bose and his family members were sent for examination.

The reports, which arrived on Thursday night, showed Bose and one of his family members had contracted the virus.

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West Bengal on Thursday registered the highest one-day spike with 344 people testing positive for COVID-19, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 4,536.

As many as 223 people have succumbed to the disease in the state so far.

Earlier, the government had attributed the death of 72 coronavirus patients to comorbidities.

The highest single-day spike of 344 COVID-19 cases on Thursday took the total to 4,536, while the death toll rose to 223 with six more fatalities in the last 24 hours, a state health department bulletin stated.

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Of the six fatalities, three were reported in Kolkata, two in Hooghly and one in North 24 Parganas district.

The number of active cases in the state stood at 2,573, it said.

The highest number of new cases were reported in Kolkata (87), followed by Howrah (55) and North 24 Parganas (49) districts, the bulletin stated.

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