Kolkata,  West Bengal now has 444 containment zones, a majority of which are in Kolkata, where complete lockdown was being observed to battle the Covid 19 pandemic, a senior official said here on Thursday.

"There are 444 containment zones in the state. Of them, 264 are in Kolkata, 70 in 24 Parganas North, 72 in Howrah districts and 38 in rest of the state," Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha told media persons at the state secretariat Nabanna.

He said 37 new cases were detected over the past 24 hours. Most of them were from the three worst-affected districts. Some cases were reported from Hooghly district also.