West Bengal reported its first COVID-related death in 2025 on Tuesday, as India recorded five fatalities and 4,026 active cases, as per the Ministry of Health. The spike is attributed to a highly transmissible new variant.

In Kolkata, a 43-year-old woman from Alipore, who had been on ventilator support at a private hospital for a week, succumbed to the virus. According to hospital sources, she was also suffering from Acute Coronary Syndrome, septic shock, and acute kidney injury.

The state registered 41 new cases in the past day, pushing West Bengal’s active caseload to 372. Other states also reported deaths: Kerala reported the death of an 80-year-old man with severe pneumonia, ARDS, diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. In Maharashtra, two women aged 70 and 73, both diabetic (one also had hypertension), died of COVID. Tamil Nadu reported the death of a 69-year-old woman with Type 2 diabetes and Parkinson’s disease.

West Bengal had reported only one case in the first week of May. By the second week, 12 more cases were logged. A rapid surge followed in the third week.

While no official advisory has been issued by the state health department yet, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has initiated precautionary measures. Banners urging people to wash hands, wear masks, and maintain social distancing will be displayed at all KMC health units. Health workers across wards have been instructed to collect data on COVID symptoms, in addition to ongoing surveillance for malaria and dengue. They have also been advised to isolate individuals showing influenza-like illness or severe acute respiratory symptoms (SARI).

With rising case numbers, the Health Department has kept two isolation wards ready at the Infectious Diseases Hospital in case of a higher spike.