Bengal on Friday reported 260 Covid-19 infections, including 54 from Calcutta, 430 recoveries and four deaths.

The total of active cases dropped by 174 to reach 1,988 on Friday.

Twenty of the state’s 23 districts reported zero deaths. Calcutta reported one. The state’s mortality rate is 1.05 per cent now.

Friday was the 19th day in a row that Bengal registered three-digit figures of fresh infections after December 29 last year when cases had started climbing up in the third wave of the pandemic.

The positive confirmation rate is 0.83 per cent now. It is for eight successive days that the rate went below 1 per cent.

Friday was also the 28th straight day of the state reporting a positive confirmation rate of less than 5 per cent in a 24-hour period. Deemed a crucial indicator in the pandemic, the positive confirmation rate of up to 5 per cent is considered tolerable. On January 10, the rate had reached an all-time high of 37.32.

This was 40 consecutive days of such a drop in the third wave, resulting in improvement by 99 per cent in the total since January 17. Prior to this turnaround, the total active caseload had gone up by nearly 22 times between December 28 and January 16 and reached 1.6 lakh.

The recovery rate improved for 40 consecutive days to reach 98.85 per cent on Friday. The national rate is 98.49 now.

Between December 29 and January 16, it had dropped by eight percentage points, before recovering by over eight percentage points over these 40 days.

In these 40 days, the state reported over 2.73 lakh recoveries, which outweighed the 1.16 lakh new infections detected during the period.

Bengal has over 20.14 lakh cases now since the first was detected in March, 2020. The total includes more than 19.91 lakh recoveries and 21,169 deaths.

Bengal on Friday reported 260 Covid-19 infections, including 54 from Calcutta, 430 recoveries and four deaths.

The total of active cases dropped by 174 to reach 1,988 on Friday.

Twenty of the state’s 23 districts reported zero deaths. Calcutta reported one. The state’s mortality rate is 1.05 per cent now.

Friday was the 19th day in a row that Bengal registered three-digit figures of fresh infections after December 29 last year when cases had started climbing up in the third wave of the pandemic.

The positive confirmation rate is 0.83 per cent now. It

is for eight successive days that the rate went below 1 per cent.

Friday was also the 28th straight day of the state reporting a positive confirmation rate of less than 5 per cent in a 24-hour period. Deemed a crucial indicator in the pandemic, the positive confirmation rate of up to 5 per cent is considered tolerable. On January 10, the rate had reached an all-time high of 37.32.

This was 40 consecutive days of such a drop in the third wave, resulting in improvement by 99 per cent in the total since January 17. Prior to this turnaround, the total active caseload had gone up by nearly 22 times between December 28 and January 16 and reached 1.6 lakh.

The recovery rate improved for 40 consecutive days to reach 98.85 per cent on Friday. The national rate is 98.49 now.

Between December 29 and January 16, it had dropped by eight percentage points, before recovering by over eight percentage points over these 40 days.

In these 40 days, the state reported over 2.73 lakh recoveries, which outweighed the 1.16 lakh new infections detected during the period.

Bengal has over 20.14 lakh cases now since the first was detected in March, 2020. The total includes more than 19.91 lakh recoveries and 21,169 deaths.