Bengal’s active Covid-19 cases dropped by 143 on Sunday after a 65-day spell of relentless rise in the figure.
As the state reported 19,117 infections on Sunday, the number of active patients was 1,31,805. Bengal also logged 147 deaths, the highest daily toll in the pandemic.
A total of 19,113 recoveries helped the state record the drop in the active cases after 65 days.
Prior to Sunday, Bengal had reported a fall in the total active cases the last time on March 11, which was the end of a 136-day spell of the steady drop in the figure.
However, sources in the state government urged against premature celebration of the drop as an indication of the turning of the tide.
“There are predictions of the second wave peaking around mid-May, following which the numbers are expected to nosedive. But there is no reason to believe just yet that we have reached that stage,” said a minister.
“There have been slightly fewer infections detected over the weekend, yes, but there have also been relatively fewer tests (on Friday, there were 70,051 tests reported, compared to Sunday’s 64,327). In fact, the (overall) positive confirmation rate actually rose over these two days, from 9.68 to 9.91 per cent,” he added.
However, he pointed out that Bengal was still doing much better than the worst-affected states, with 3.73 per cent of the national total of active cases and eighth place on the list of states with most active cases.
“A significantly positive indicator that we do want to underscore is the rise in the recovery rate, for the 15th consecutive day, to 87.2 per cent,” said the minister. The national rate now is 84.65.
He said the state government was taking specific, incisive measures to curb the outbreak in the city and its immediate neighbourhood, which had been reporting the most cases and deaths. “Calcutta and North 24-Parganas alone have over 52,000 — nearly 40 per cent — of the total active cases. Add to that another 31,000-odd from Howrah, Hooghly, South 24-Parganas and Nadia… that’s 63 per cent of the active cases,” he added.
While Calcutta recorded 3,451 infections, North 24-Parganas reported 4,116 on Sunday.
The 147 deaths included 33 from the city and 39 from North 24-Parganas.
The state’s total toll from Covid now is 13,284, while the mortality rate is 1.17 per cent. The national rate is now 1.09.