West Bengal on Thursday recorded the second case of mutant strain of virus causing COVID-19 as the State recorded 1,170 new cases in the past 24 hours of the last day of 2020.
Atin Ghosh, member of the board of administrators, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), said the second case of person infected with mutant strain of virus had been confirmed by the Health department. The person had taken the same flight from the U.K. to Kolkata from where the first case of mutant strain had been traced.
Mr. Ghosh said the KMC was not only testing the family members of those affected by the new strain but everyone who took the flight was being traced and tested.
The total number of cases in the State at the end of 2020 was 5,52,063. The State had recorded the first case of COVID-19 on March 17 and the first death was reported on March 27, 2020. The State recorded 29 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the number of causalities in the State to 9,712. The discharge rate increased to 96.07% and the active cases dropped to 11,985.