Kolkata, Jan 6 : West Bengal on Wednesday saw daily Covid cases surge 55 per cent, to over 14,000, against 9,000 on the day before, forcing the state government to impose restrictions strictly. According to the data released by the state Health Department, the daily tally rose to 14,022 against 9,073 on Tuesday, taking active cases to a whopping 33,042 - the highest number since Durga Puja in October last year. There are 17 more deaths too. The infection rate has skyrocketed to 23.27 percent giving a real tough time to the state Health Department. Kolkata tops the chart with more than 6,000 infections on Wednesday, a 45 per cent rise over the previous day. There has also been a substantial rise of cases in districts in and around Kolkata. In North 24 Parganas, the total number of daily cases touched 2,540, in Howrah, it was 1,280 and in South 24 Parganas, the number of cases was 789. "This is a new trend because it shows that the districts encircling Kolkata are having a spill-over effect of the virus. Previously these three districts that have got a direct link with Kolkata had a moderate number of infected patients but now the number has started rising. We have asked all the government and private hospitals to get prepared for the Covid blast in the state. In the coming days it will have a steep rise and it might put an additional pressure on the hospitals," a senior Health Department official said. "Presently, there is no shortage of medicine or oxygen but the rate of increase is alarming and we don't know what will be the situation in the next seven days. We are getting prepared for every possible situation and we will meet the challenges. We have been successful in controlling the second wave and are hopeful that we will be successful in handling the third wave as well," the official said. /IANS