Bengal reported seven consecutive days of less than 3,000 new Covid-19 cases with 2,580 infections recorded on Sunday.

This is for the first time that less than 3,000 cases being logged daily for a week since a similar spell ended exactly four months ago on August 13.

The state logged 2,994 recoveries and 47 deaths on Sunday, contributing to the total of active cases dipping for the 48th consecutive day since Vijaya Dashami on October 26.

“Today, we achieved our goal of taking our total of active cases to less than 23,000 by December 31. Now, to the next goal of taking our recovery rate past 95,” said a minister.

Bengal’s recovery rate has been in an unbroken spell of rise for 52 consecutive days, rising on Sunday to yet another new high of 93.94 per cent. The national rate now is 94.96 per cent.
In the 48 days since the end of Puja, the state has recorded over 1.8 lakh recoveries, outweighing the 1.68 lakh cases found.

“Our total of active cases has fallen (since October 26) by nearly 15,000 to 22,573. We are back almost to where we were on August 4, which is 131 days ago. That is remarkable improvement,” said the minister.

The state now has over 5.21 lakh Covid-19 cases, including 4.9 lakh recoveries and 9,057 deaths. With 41,218 tests on Sunday, the state’s total test count went past 64.23 lakh, at 71,372 tests per million people.

The positive confirmation rate — the percentage of infections found in relation to the number of tests conducted — is 8.12 now, having improved fairly steadily from the 8.27 of November 20.

“The fall in the positive confirmation rate is a clear indicator of less spread of the infection,” said the minister.

The 47 deaths reported on Sunday included 11 which occurred in Calcutta.

Of the total deaths, 7,598 (83.98 per cent) were attributed to comorbidities by the state government.

The state’s mortality rate is now 1.73, compared to the 1.45 per cent nationally.

Bengal reported 21.6 per cent occupancy on 13,588 beds earmarked for Covid-19 at 102 dedicated hospitals. Over 5.27 lakh telemedicine consultations have been provided so far during the pandemic.