Bengal on Friday logged 3,192 new Covid-19 cases, 59 deaths and 2,960 recoveries, which raised the state’s total caseload to over 2.18 lakh, of which over 1.9 lakh are recoveries and 4,242 deaths.

After the 15-day streak of fall in active cases ended on September 8, lowering total active cases from 28,069 to 23,216, the state has now seen a rise for 10 consecutive days in that total, which is now 24,509.

Bengal’s recovery rate, however, continued to climb and is 86.86 per cent now, a rise by over 11 per cent in a month. The national rate is 78.95.

“Over the past one month, we had 96,000 new cases and 97,000 recoveries. Our recovery rate will rise more if we are able to lower the number of new cases” said a minister.

Of the 59 deaths reported in 24 hours, 14 were from Calcutta and seven from North 24-Parganas. The two districts have contributed 60 per cent of all Covid-19 deaths in Bengal.

Of the total deaths, 3,637 (85.7 per cent) were reported comorbid by the state government. Bengal’s mortality rate improved to 1.93, but is still worse-off than the national rate 1.61 per cent

“Now that comorbidity surveys are being completed and tighter vigil is being put in place for those who need prioritised medical supervision, we should be able to lower our daily death count from 50-60,” said the minister. “Halving the mortality rate has been our foremost priority.”

Bengalalso logged 45,229 tests on Friday, taking the total past 26.99 lakh.

The state now has 29,992 tests per million people, which was 15,358 a month ago.

Steady rise in testing, coupled with relatively lower cases being found has dragged down the positive confirmation rate from 8.9 on August 23 to 8.1 per cent now. The state reported 33.58 per cent occupancy of 12,675 Covid-19 beds in 92 hospitals.

Over 2.25 lakh telemedicine consultations have been provided, including 4,251 in the past 24 hours.