Bengal reported over 18,000 daily Covid-19 cases for the first time since May 23 last year with the state logging 18,213 infections on Friday.

Calcutta recorded 7,484 fresh infections, contributing to over 41 per cent of the statewide total. This was the fourth consecutive day that the city reset its own record for the highest number of new cases reported in a 24-hour period.

There were also 7,912 recoveries and 18 deaths reported, resulting in a rise by 10,283 in the total of active cases to 51,384, the highest since June 4, 217 days ago.

Even on December 28 — the last day of relatively normal numbers before the latest spell of the surge in Bengal — the statewide total was 752, including 382 from Calcutta. The total active caseload then was 7,457.

In just 10 days since then, the state has logged 80,140 new infections, including 36,959 from Calcutta. There have also been 36,082 recoveries and 131 deaths in the state in these 10 days, including 16,953 recoveries and 39 deaths from Calcutta.

The state’s positive confirmation rate, which was 2.35 per cent on December 28, is 26.34 now. That basically implies that one out of every four tests in the state returning positive. A positive confirmation rate up to 5 per cent is considered tolerable in a pandemic. At the peak of the second wave last year, it had climbed to 33 per cent.

The surge has, over these 10 days, mostly been confined to the city and its surrounding areas. It has been attributed by sources in the state government to the general disregard for Covid-19 safety protocols among revellers in the run-up to Christmas.

The recovery rate slid further to 95.84 from 96.4 per cent of Thursday, having dropped from 98.33 in the past 10 days. The national rate is 97.57 now.

Calcutta and its immediate neighbourhood of North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and Nadia accounted for 13,869 — 76.14 per cent — of the new infections on Friday.

Fifteen of the state’s 23 districts reported zero deaths. Calcutta recorded seven fatalities.
The state’s mortality rate is 1.16, while that of the nation is 1.32 per cent.

Bengal now has nearly 17.12 lakh Covid-19 cases (since the first was logged in March 2020). The total does include close to 16.41 lakh recoveries and 19,864 deaths.