Bengal on Sunday reported 565 new Covid19 infections, 568 recoveries and nine deaths, causing a drop in active cases by 12, to 7,489.

Calcutta reported 174 new infections and three deaths. North 24Parganas reported 104 new infections and four deaths.

These were the only two of the state’s 23 districts with a threedigit figure of new cases detected in a day. Calcutta, North and South 24Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and Nadia accounted for 424 or 75.04 per cent of the new infections detected on Sunday.

Twelve districts reported a singledigit figure of fresh cases. Eighteen districts reported zero deaths. New infections reported on Sunday are indicative of people infected between December 10 and 14.

In the past 85 days since Bengal snapped out of a 97day streak of fall in the total of active cases ahead of the Puja season on September 26, the total rose on 36 days and fell on 47 days. Over these 85 days, there has been a net fall of 185 in the total.

Bengal’s daily positive confirmation rate, which was nearly 33 per cent at the peak of the second wave, was 1.53 per cent on Sunday.

The state’s recovery rate is 98.33 per cent, below the national rate of 98.37 per cent. The state’s mortality rate is 1.21 per cent, while that of the nation is 1.33 per cent.

Bengal now has over 16.27 lakh Covid19 cases, since the first was logged in March last year. The total includes nearly 16 lakh recoveries and 19,669 deaths.