Frontline Covid-19 warriors, such as health and civic staff, will be among the first in the state to receive the vaccine against the disease. Though the vaccine isnt ready yet, the state health department is gearing up for the vaccination programme.

Film buffs and doctors have welcomed chief minister Mamata Banerjees decision to reschedule the 26th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF). Owing to the pandemic, the festival has been shifted from November 5-12 to January 8-15 next year. Incidentally, the 51st edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), scheduled to be held in Goa from November 20 to 28, has already been postponed to January 16 to 24.

A 64-year-old jeweller, who had recently lost his wife and whose business was badly hit since the beginning of lockdown, allegedly jumped off his brothers 10th-floor flat in the Girish Park area on Thursday.

Bengal assembly deputy speaker and two times Trinamool Congress MLA from Jhargram, Sukumar Hansda, died of cancer at a private hospital in Kolkata on Thursday. He was 66.

The city police headquarters on Thursday instructed all its officers across nine divisions and traffic police to ensure social distancing is maintained while celebrating Lakshmi Puja in the next two days.

West Bengal on Thursday recorded the highest single-day recovery of 3,945 Covid-19 patients, taking the total number of cured people to 3,21,873, the health department said in a bulletin here.

Additional Director General of Police (law and order), Assam, G P Singh visited the Assam- Mizoram interstate border here, the scene of a clash between the people of the two states, and reviewed the law and order situation.

The ruling Trinamool Congress Thursday hit out sharply at West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar for his alleged 'partisan' approach calling him 'a disgrace to the Raj Bhavan' and accusing him of acting like a loudspeaker of BJP.

Air quality in certain areas of the metropolis and neighbouring Howrah city turned poor since Wednesday for the first time in the past seven months. A West Bengal Pollution Control Board official attributed the air quality turning poor to change in weather conditions.

The Bengal government plans to bring all asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic Covid patients with history of cardiac and/or respiratory illness who are in home isolation under immediate medical supervision to arrest any slide to moderate or severe infection and decrease mortality. The state aims to standardize the treatment of home-isolation patients and stop disease progression.

The state health department has roped in IMA doctors to train family physicians who will tend to Covid patients in home isolation so they can get hospital care without delay in case symptoms develop. The move is being made to prevent patients reaching hospital late, leading to mortality in many cases. The decision was taken after a meeting between health officials, including health secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam, director of medical education Debasis Bhattacharyya and IMA representatives at Swa

In what promises to have a nation-wide ripple effect, the Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to stay a Calcutta High Court order to educational institutions to charge 80% of basic fees and not charge any fee on account of extracurricular activities, sports, craft and laboratory for the period institutions remained closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The citys air quality index breached the 200-mark entering the poor zone on Wednesday for the first time since end-March, raising concerns about a spike in patients with respiratory distress amid the Covid situation.

Sold out rooms at over 600 hotels in Digha, Mandarmani and Tajpur and the resultant weekend crowd on Ashtami, Navami and Dashami has left health experts worried of a spike in Covid cases as the tourists return to Kolkata.

West Bengal on Wednesday recorded the highest single-day recovery of 3,925 Covid-19 patients, taking the total number of those cured to 3,17,928, a bulletin issued by the health department said

Assam Police on Wednesday arrested a doctor and his son for allegedly using a proxy candidate to write JEE (mains) examination held in September instead, in which the son achieved the top rank among candidates from Assam with a score of 99.8 percentile without sitting for the exam.

On-demand driver hiring platform app DriveU launched its services in the city, a company official said on Wednesday

A toto driver in Hooghly's Baidyabati was murdered and his body chopped to pieces after he reportedly refused to end his relationship with a woman whom a notorious history-sheeter, Bishal Das, was apparently eyeing.

City Police has initiated legal proceedings against a viral social media post, which claimed the state is entering into a 48-hour stricter lockdown from Thursday.

A devastating fire completely gutted the FD block puja pandal, one of the most popular Durga pujas in Salt Lake, on Wednesday morning. The cause of the fire is yet to he ascertained.

Mystery shrouds the death of a 23-year-old engineering student, whose body was recovered from a pond near his Baranagar house on Dashami afternoon, a day after he had gone missing.

Veteran actor Soumitra Chatterjee remained critical and has been on ventilation support at Belle Vue Clinic since Monday afternoon.He has been on ventilator support ever since his consciousness level dipped further.

The city has taken the Durga Puja test for Covid but must wait till at least Lakshmi Puja (October 30) for the results, say experts. And, the outcome is likely to be negative, they fear.

Most Durga Puja organizers are set to register a record deficit in their books this year following a substantial dip in revenue from advertisement and sponsorship. This will impact next years Durga Puja even if the threat of the novel coronavirus blows away and the economy is back on the recovery path. Durga Puja organizers say at least a quarter of them who do theme Pujas will certainly opt out next year due to the financial condition and the situation may get even more grave if the pandemic pe

Fresh Covid cases in Bengal on Tuesday slipped below the 4,000-mark for the first time since October 20 and remained lowest since October 18. The state on Tuesday reported 3,957 cases and a positivity rate of 8.1%. This is also the lowest one-day number reported since October 18 when it had reported 3,983 cases.

West Bengal on Tuesday reported the highest single-day recovery of 3,917 Covid-19 patients, taking the total number of cured people to 3,14,003, the health department said in a bulletin.

Five people died during immersion of Goddess Durga idols at Beldanga in Murshidabad district on Monday. Six people went missing from two boats as the boats were supposed to move apart to facilitate the immersion. The six missing people were trapped below the structure of the idol.

Bimal Gurung is one of the founders of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM). He was the chairperson of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration that governs the hilly areas - Darjeeling district and terai - in West Bengal.

Erstwhile Gorkha Janamukti Morcha supremo Bimal Gurung had made a dramatic reappearance in Kolkata on October 21, quit the BJP-led NDA and aligned with TMC asserting that the saffron party has failed to find a permanent solution for the hills which had witnessed major unrest over demand for a separate state in 2017.

The five-day Durga Puja festivities in Bengal came to an end on Monday, albeit colourful processions, which usually mark the occasion, were largely missing from the city streets, as the idol immersion ceremony was observed by just a handful of people.

West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar on Monday greeted the people of the state on the occasion of Vijaya Dashami, and prayed for everyone's peace and prosperity.

Arunachal Pradesh has reported more Covid-19 recoveries than fresh cases in a single day, as 170 people were cured of the disease while 33 fresh infections, pushed the state's coronavirus tally to 14,244, a senior health department official said on Monday.

The Trinamool Congress has launched a digital campaign 'Mark Yourself Safe From BJP' from the alleged wrongdoings of the saffron party in the country in a bid to corner it ahead of the 2021 assembly elections in West Bengal.

A low-intensity blast took place inside a medicine shop in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district on Sunday afternoon, police said. However, there has been no report of any casualty in the incident in the Kamarhati area, they said.

A BJP worker has been shot at by a TMC activist in West Bengal's Howrah district, police said on Sunday. He is being treated at a state-run hospital in Kolkata and his condition is stated to be stable, they said.

In an attempt to showcase his creativity, an artist from Assam's Dubri has created a Durga idol with strips of expired tablets, capsules and injection vials to express solidarity with everyone fighting the COVID-19 menace.

West Bengal on Saturday reported the highest single-day discharge of 3,753 Covid-19 patients, taking the total number of recovered people to 3,02,340, the health department said in a bulletin.

After Barisha Club's idol depicting goddess Durga as a migrant worker in Kolkata won several hearts, another Durga Puja pandal in Murshidabad is now making a splash while paying tribute to the healthcare workers.

West Bengal on Friday reported 4,143 new Covid-19 cases, taking the tally to 3,41,426, as per a bulletin released by the state health department.

The Trinamool Congress on Friday said the usual gathering of well-wishers at the party office- cum-residence of West Bengal chief minister and party supremo Mamata Banerjee on the occasion of Bijoya Dashami will not take place this year due to the pandemic situation.

Three deaths in the Kolkata Police in the past week - either directly due to Covid or the virus triggering another life-threatening disease - has made the officers and lower constabulary wary.

A pillion rider lost his life while the biker is in a critical condition after their bike skidded on the top of rain-soaked Rashbehari Avenue, close to the Gariahat crossing and crashed into a divider.

Flight operations between Dhaka and Kolkata are set to commence, following the air travel bubble agreement between Bangladesh and India. This has brought cheer to businesses in and around New Market and Sudder Street that have been out of business since the lockdown.

With pandal-hopping taking a backseat, malls and restaurants have emerged as a hangout zone for Puja enthusiasts. Several malls have extended the timing of food courts and restaurants during the festival. Kolkata restaurants have witnessed a sharp spurt in footfall in the lead-up to the pujas with Panchami and Sasthi recording full occupancy throughout the day at most eateries across the central parts of the city, including Park Street. This has prompted shopping malls to keep their food courts

The mammoth task of organizing a mega annual show has been replaced by a symbolic invocation of the deity. But meticulous execution of Covid protocol is the key to the events success. The citys all-woman Puja committees are ready for the challenge. Hygiene and cleanliness, after all, come naturally to them.

After the Calcutta High Court directive, police on Thursday temporarily prevented organizers of Behala Natun Dal puja from letting in visitors, the second time in two days. Cops also started moving more personnel from roads and crossings to keep watch on crowd movement at pandals.

The city could be lashed by spells of heavy shower on Saptami under the impact of a deep depression that will hit the Bengal-Bangladesh coast on October 23 afternoon, moving along the same route that had been taken by cyclone Amphan. The rain could be accompanied by winds at a speed of 30km/hr-40km/hr with occasional gusts of up to 50km/hr, said the Met office. Along with Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly and Nadia could receive light to moderate showers while East Midnapore, North and South 24 Parganas

The Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) will continue to function under the governor till the elections are held, the Assam government decided on Thursday.

Satyendra Garg, joint secretary (North East), Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) called on Mizoram governor P.S. Sreedharan Pillai at the Raj Bhavan amid border issues with neighboring state Assam on Thursday.

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday offered Durga Puja organisers some leeway by partially relaxing its earlier order on the number of committee members who will have access to the pandal but didnt make any changes in the cut-off point for visitors 10 metres for big pujas and 5 metres for small pujas. It also did not allow participation of locals in rituals like anjali, sandhi puja and sindoor khela as sought by the organisers.