Kolkata, July 18: Despite the steep surge in COVID-19 cases, the state of West Bengal is not considering to re-impose a total lockdown. Minimum restrictions would remain in most areas of the state, where all essential and non-essential economic activities had restarted last month. The curbs would remain only in areas designated as containment zones.

"The state government has no plans for introducing lockdown in the state but there will be strict lockdown only in containment zones. There is no plan for further lockdown," said West Bengal Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha. Uttarakhand Imposes Complete Lockdown on Saturdays And Sundays in Dehradun, Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar and Nainital.

The state's coronavirus tally surged to 36,117 as per the last update issued on Friday. A record-high jump of 1,690 cases were recorded in the preceding 24 hours. 23 more deaths were recorded, taking the overall fatality count to 1,023.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while speaking to reporters on Friday, said the state government is increasing the beds in hospitals by 3,500-4,000. Citing the burden on health infrastructure, she said that a decision has been taken to allow mildly affected COVID-19 patients to remain at home.

The recovery rate in Bengal declined this week, first time since June 21. It was recorded as 59.29 percent, down from 60 percent which the state had maintained over the past month. The number of recoveries stands at 21,415, whereas, the tally of active cases was stated as 13,679.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 18, 2020 05:00 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).