Bengal has highest COVID-19 mortality rate due to weak surveillance and tracking, central team tells chief secretary

KOLKATA: West Bengal has the highest mortality rate in the country at 12.8 per cent, Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) leader Apoorva Chandra wrote in his final observations to state Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha, before leaving for Delhi on Monday.

"This extremely high mortality rate is a clear indication of low testing, weak surveillance and tracking," Chandra said in the letter.

A discrepancy has been brought to the fore in the number of COVID-19 cases reported by the state in its medical bulletins and its communication with the Union government, Chandra noted in the letter.

The team, led by Chandra, returned to the national capital after having completed two weeks of stay in the city.