West Bengal on Monday recorded 44 fresh cases of Covid-19, the second highest single-day spike in the number of infections in the country after Delhi which logged 47 cases.

With this, the total number of active cases of the disease in the state has reached 331.

The number of infections in the state spiralled after the second week of May as it had only 13 active cases till then, according to the Central government’s Covid-19 dashboard.

Even as most of the fresh cases the state recorded are from Kolkata, some officials in the state Health Department maintained that there is no cause for concern as yet.

In the first week of May, the state had logged only one case.

While no advisory has been issued by the Health Department yet, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation has decided to spread awareness about precautionary measures against the virus. The civic body will put up banners in all its health units across the city — urging people to wear masks, wash their hands and maintain social distancing protocol, it is learnt.

Health workers in all wards of the city have been directed to collect information about people with Covid symptoms, besides routine data gathering on malaria and dengue. The workers have been instructed to isolate any person with influenza-like symptoms and severe acute respiratory infections (SARI).

Also, two isolation wards have been put on standby at the Infectious Diseases & Beleghata General Hospital, if the number of infections spirals up further, Health Department officials said.

As many as 203 new Covid-19 cases were reported across the country on Monday, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. This has taken the total number of active cases to 3,961, raising fresh health concerns across the states.

Kerala (35) and Maharashtra (21) recorded the third and fourth highest single-day spike in the number of infections.