Bengal on Monday reported 4,546 Covid-19 cases, including 496 from Calcutta.

In 24 hours till 9am on Monday, the state also logged 20,157 recoveries and 37 deaths, resulting in a drop in the total of active cases by 15,648 to 94,535.

This is the first time that the total active cases fell below the one lakh mark after January 10. This was the eighth consecutive day of such a drop in the third wave. Before January 17, the last drop in the total of active cases had been registered on December 27 last year.

The positive confirmation rate — the percentage of samples testing positive for the novel coronavirus — improved to 8.84 per cent from 9.53 on Sunday. On January 10, the positive confirmation rate had reached an all-time high of 37.32. In the two weeks since, it has improved by over 76 per cent.

In a pandemic, a positive confirmation rate up to 5 per cent is considered tolerable. At the peak of the devastating second wave last year, the rate had climbed to 33 per cent.
The recovery rate also improved for the eighth consecutive day to reach 94.17 per cent from 93.36 on Sunday. The national rate is 93.07.

Between December 29 and January 16, it had dropped by nearly eight percentage points, before recovering by about four percentage points in these eight days.
On December 28, which was the last day of relatively normal numbers before the escalation of the third wave in Bengal, the statewide total was 752, of which 382 were from Calcutta. The total active caseload was 7,457 then.

In the 27 days since, Bengal has logged around 3.38 lakh new infections, including close to 1.07 lakh from Calcutta.

welve of the state’s 23 districts reported zero deaths on Monday. Calcutta reported five fatalities and North 24-Parganas 14.

The state’s mortality rate is 1.03 per cent now, with that of infected males at 1. 21 per cent and infected females at 0.80. Bengal has recorded more than 19.69 lakh cases till now since the first was detected in March, 2020. The total includes over 18.54 lakh recoveries and 20,375 deaths.

North cases drop

The number of fresh Covid cases decreased for the second day in north Bengal on Monday, while the count of patients who tested negative rose in the past 24 hours.
A total of 1,244 new cases were reported across the region on Monday, which are comparatively lower than 1,757 recorded on Sunday.

In north Bengal, the highest number of cases have been reported in North Dinajpur district (295), followed by Darjeeling (295).

On the other hand, 2,733 patients who were earlier infected tested negative in the past 24 hours. The figure was 2,603 on Monday.

“Most of these patients are from Darjeeling and Malda. In both these districts, 653 patients have tested negative, which is indeed a sign of relief. Even then, there are still more than 3,000 active patients in these districts and hence, we should always be on alert,” said a health official.

The decrease in the new cases also brought down the number of active patients below 15,000. There are 13,345 active patients in north Bengal now.
During the past 24 hours, two patients, both from Darjeeling district, died.

“The figures are indicating that the situation is improving across north Bengal and in the state as a whole. But simultaneously, we have to understand that there are reports of new variants like the stealth variety of omicron. It is always advisable that we adhere to the restrictions,” the health official added.