West Bengal's COVID-19 tally rose to 19,49,074 on Friday as 9,154 people tested positive for the infection, 1,805 less than the previous day, a health bulletin said.

The death toll rose to 20,265 as 35 more patients succumbed to the infection, it said. A total of 19,112 more people were cured of the disease, taking the total number of recoveries to 17,93,993, it said, adding that the discharge rate improved to 92.04 per cent.

Howrah district reported 11 of the fresh fatalities, followed by Darjeeling (five), Kolkata and North 24 Parganas (four each). The fatality rate remained unchanged at 1.04 per cent.

The state has thus far tested over 2.26 crore samples for COVID-19, including 72,738 in the last 24 hours, the bulletin added. The positivity rate on Friday is 12.58 per cent, down from Thursday's 16.27 per cent. Out of the new positive cases, Kolkata accounted for 1,375 and North 24 Parganas reported 1,317.

Since Thursday, West Bengal tested 72,738 samples for coronavirus taking the total number of such clinical examinations to 2,26,23,946. The state administered 7,36,095 doses of the vaccines during the day, a health department official said.?

With inputs from PTI.?