Bengal on Friday reported 710 Covid-19 infections, 721 recoveries and nine deaths, resulting in a drop by 20 in its total of active cases to 7,847.
Over the past 62 days — since Bengal snapped out of a 97-day streak of constant fall in the total of active cases ahead of the Puja season on September 26 — the state recorded a rise in its total of active cases for 33 days and a fall for 28 days.
In these 62 days, there has been a net rise of 173 in the state’s total of active cases, from 7,674.A minister said the number of new cases reported on Friday was indicative of people who had got infected in the period from November 17 (four days after Jagaddhatri Puja) to 21.
Calcutta reported 183 new infections and North 24-Parganas 142 on Friday, the only two of the state’s 23 districts with three-digit figures of new cases found. Seven districts reported single-digit figures.
Calcutta, North and South 24-Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and Nadia accounted for 527 — 74.23 per cent — of the new infections detected on Friday.
The daily positive confirmation rate, which was nearly 33 per cent at the peak of the second wave, was 1.87 per cent on Friday.
The state’s recovery rate is 98.31 per cent, a shade below the national rate of 98.33.
Nineteen Bengal districts reported zero deaths. Calcutta reported three, while North 24-Parganas reported four. The state’s mortality rate is 1.2, while that of the nation is 1.34 per cent.
Bengal now has over 16.13 lakh Covid-19 cases, since the first was logged in March last year. The total includes over 15.86 lakh recoveries and 19,439 casualties.
