COVID-19 positivity rate over 12 % in West Bengal
The Hindu
Calcutta High Court to function in hybrid mode
West Bengal registered a sharp rise in the COVID-19 infections on Saturday with the State registering 4,512 fresh cases of infection in the past 24 hours. The COVID-19 infections in Kolkata crossed 2,000 as the city recorded 2,398 fresh infections. The case positivity ratio in the State on Saturday climbed to 12.02%. Along with Kolkata districts of North 24 Parganas and Howrah recorded high number of fresh infections
The positivity rate in West Bengal on December 31 was 8.46% when it had recorded 3,451 new cases of COVID-19 infection. Kolkata had recorded 1,954 cases of infection. The case positivity rate on December 25 was only 1.71 % when the number of new infections was only 552.
On Saturday, the first day of the year 2022 large crowds were seen at parks in the city and Alipore Zoological gardens. While the State government has not imposed any fresh restrictions, it has urged Ministry of Civil Aviation not to allow direct flights from United Kingdom from January 3. Meanwhile, the State government is trying to augment health infrastructure to tackle the spike in the cases. Director of State Health Services, Ajay Chakraborti said that hospitals have been asked to augment 50 % beds.
In 2021, five women from Mayithara, four of them MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) workers, found a common ground in their desire to create a sustainable livelihood by growing vegetables. Rajamma M., Mary Varkey, Valsala L., Elisho S., and Praseeda Sumesh, aged between 70 and 39, pooled their savings, rented a piece of land and began their collective vegetable farming journey under the Deepam Krishi group.