Bengal on Thursday reported yet another highest 24-hour spike in Covid-19 cases with 3,720 new infections, with the total number of cases crossing 3.09 lakh.

This was the 12th time in 15 days this month with a highest 24-hour spike in Covid cases, as the recovery rate continued to dip.

There have been 1 lakh new cases and 1,808 deaths in the past month alone.

On Thursday, Bengal reported 62 deaths, with 17 from Calcutta and 14 from North 24-Parganas, and 3,179 cures. With this, 3.09 lakh cases include over 2.71 lakh recoveries and 5,870 deaths. Bengal’s recovery rate, which reached 87.98 per cent on October 6, dropped to 87.77 per cent on Thursday. The national rate — once lagging behind Bengal by 10 per cent or so — has almost caught up, at 87.43.

“Since September 15, we have had over one lakh new cases, outweighing the 90,000-odd recoveries,” said a minister.

The state, which climbed to the top five among states with the highest recovery rates and stayed there for long, has now fallen to the 20th place. Bengal, which dropped out of the top 10 states with the highest total of active cases, is now at seventh spot. Among states with the highest mortality rates, Bengal is fourth.

“Total active cases a month ago were around 23,000. On Thursday, they are nearly 32,000,” said the minister.

Bengal’s mortality rate is 1.89, much behind the national rate of 1.52 per cent. Of the 5,870 deaths, the state government termed 4,969 or 84.7 per cent as deaths with comorbidity “present”.

With 42,653 tests, the total tests went past 38.61 lakh, at 42,901 tests per million people. The renewed surge in cases has caused the positive confirmation rate to rise again, over the past week or so, to 8.01 per cent now.

Bengal reported 37.88 per cent occupancy in the 12,715 beds earmarked for Covid-19 in the 92 dedicated hospitals for the pandemic, besides 3.35 lakh telemedicine consultations for the pandemic.