Bengal on Thursday recorded a drop by 8,235 in total active Covid-19 cases, aided by 16,938 recoveries, nearly twice the 8,811 infections reported on the day.

The state also logged 108 deaths on Thursday. Of the 108 deaths, 27 were reported from Calcutta and 30 from North 24-Parganas.

While Calcutta logged 976 new infections, North 24-Parganas reported 1,842.

The total number of active cases, which was at an all-time high of 1,32,181 on May 21, is 61,780 now, having improved by over 53 per cent in the past 13 days.

Bengal now has 3.78 per cent of the national total of active cases and is seventh on the list of states with most such cases. The state now has a total of 14.03 lakh cases, which include 13.25 lakh recoveries, besides 15,921 deaths.

The recovery rate rose for the 33rd consecutive day, riding the consistently large number of recoveries, rising by nearly 10 percentage points to 94.46 per cent on Thursday. The national rate now is 93.05.

The daily confirmation rate, which had peaked in the second wave with nearly 33 per cent, fell to 11.81 on Thursday.

Deemed a key indicator, the positive confirmation rate is the percentage of positive cases out of total samples tested. A decreasing positive confirmation rate is indicative of reducing levels of Covid-19 spread.

Bengal’s overall mortality rate is 1.13 per cent, while the national rate is 1.19.

“From the peak of more than 53,000 active cases between them, these two districts (Calcutta and North 24-Parganas) now have around 20,000 active cases. From around 40 per cent of the state’s total of active cases, the two districts now have around 33 per cent,” said a minister.

“When these two, collectively, have less than 5,000 active cases once again, we will have effectively seen off the second wave,” he added.