New Delhi: The tally of new Covid-19 cases in Kolkata has more than doubled in the last 24 hours as the city reported 1,090 infections on Thursday, as per the State Health Department data.
Earlier, the city had reported 540 new cases on Wednesday, the state health department said.
West Bengal registered more than 2,000 cases after nearly six months as the state reported 2,128 new infections.
The new tally is nearly double the number of cases reported on Wednesday when 1,089 infections were detected and more than four times than that reported last Thursday -- 516.
West Bengal’s positivity rate jumped to 5.47 per cent from 2.84 per cent on Wednesday.
The state has so far reported 16,35,034 Covid-19 cases.
West Bengal has also reported 12 more deaths, taking the toll to 19,757.
Four of the latest fatalities were reported in Kolkata, two each in North 24 Parganas, Hooghly and Darjeeling and one each in South 24 Parganas and Paschim Medinipur.
In last 24 hours, 1,067 people recovered from the disease. So far, 16,06,501 people have been cured of Covid-19 in the state.
At present, the active caseload in the state stands at 8,776.
Meanwhile, in view of the surge in Omicron cases across the world and the country, the West Bengal government has decided to temporarily suspend all direct flights coming from the United Kingdom to Kolkata from January 3 till further orders, said officials.
According to a statement issued by the government, all flights from ‘at-risk’ countries (notified by Government of India) will also not be allowed in the state.
The statement reads, “All passengers coming from non-risk countries will have to mandatorily undergo Covid test on arrival (Airline to select 10% of the total passengers for RT-PCR test and the remaining 90% to undergo RAT test on arrival).”