The COVID-19 situation in West Bengal has improved significantly with the State registering a positivity rate of less than 10% — it was 9.02% on Thursday — in the past few days. The number of new infections in the past 24 hours was 3,608 and the active cases dropped to 55,725 but the number of deaths has remained high. While 36 persons have died due to COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, the State has recorded more than 30 deaths in the past few days.
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With the situation showing signs of improvement, pressure is mounting on the State government to re–open educational institutions. Over the past few days, supporters of the Left student organisations have protested in the streets demanding re–opening of schools. During the day, Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari along with BJP MLAs held a demonstration in front of the Bikash Bhawan, headquarters of the School Education Department. Mr. Adhikari said he wanted to meet officials to know the reason for not opening educational institutions.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to resume administration meetings from February 3. A press statement issued by the State government said outreach programmes such as Pa ray Samadhan ( Solution in the neighborhood) will start from February 1 and Duar e Sarkar (G overnance at Doorstep) will begin from February 15.