Bengal on Sunday reported 55 consecutive days of decline in total active Covid-19 cases since Vijaya Dashami, which dragged it to 17,771, back almost to where the number of infections was on July 20 exactly five months ago.

On Sunday, the state logged 2,627 recoveries, 1,978 new infections and 40 deaths, of which five were from Calcutta.

Total active cases, which stood at 37,190 on Dashami, October 26, have fallen by 19,419 in these 55 days.

“Over the past week or so, there has been yet another acceleration in the drop in active cases, with the gap widening between daily recoveries and new cases. At this rate, we could well end the year with less than 15,000 active cases when our target was to keep it below 23,000,” said a minister.

The recovery rate, rising unhindered for 59 consecutive days, is now 94.95 per cent, improving by 8 per cent during this period. The national rate now is 95.49 per cent.

“On Monday, we expect to cross 95 per cent in recovery rate,” the minister added.

In 55 days since Dashami, the state reported over 1.99 lakh recoveries, outweighing 1.83 lakh infections. Bengal now has 5.36 lakh Covid-19 cases, including over 5.09 lakh recoveries and 9,360 deaths.

With 40,243 tests on Sunday, the state’s total test count rose to 67.06 lakh, at 74,515 tests per million people. Positive confirmation rate is 8 per cent now, having improved steadily from the 8.27 of November 20.

However, Bengal’s mortality rate is still 1.74 compared to the 1.44 per cent nationally. Of total deaths, 7,854, or 83.9 per cent, were attributed to co-morbidities by the state government.

Bengal reported 16.69 per cent occupancy in the 13,588 beds earmarked for Covid-19 in the 102 dedicated hospitals for the pandemic, besides over 5.4 lakh telemedicine consultations.

Calcutta High Court had intervened to prevent a worsening of the pandemic over the festive October-November months for Durga Puja, Kali Puja, Diwali and Chhath. The numbers indicate the court’s instructions had been effective.