Bengal’s total active Covid-19 caseload on Friday reached 1,45,483, the highest-ever since the first infection had been recorded in the state in March, 2020.

Prior to Friday, the highest-ever active caseload was 1,32,181, which was recorded on May 21 last year (238 days ago) during the peak of the second wave.

In the 24-hour period till 9am on Friday, the state logged 22,645 infections, including 6,867 from Calcutta. There were also 8,687 recoveries and 28 deaths, which along with the fresh infections, resulted in a rise by 13,930 in the total of active cases.

The state’s death toll from Covid-19 went past 20,000 to touch 20,013 on Friday. The first death caused by the infection had been recorded on March 23, 2020, Calcutta and North 24-Parganas, taken together, accounted for over 52 per cent of the deaths.

On Friday, thirteen of the state’s 23 districts reported zero deaths. Calcutta logged seven and North 24-Parganas eight.

Comorbidities were attributed to 14,009 (70 per cent) of the total deaths. Hypertension has been reported as the main comorbidity of a third of the 14,009 deaths.

Over a fourth of such deaths were caused by diabetes.

Over 90 per cent of all Covid-19 deaths in Bengal were of people aged 46 or more.

The most deaths — nearly 42 per cent — took place in the 61-75 age bracket, which has a mortality rate of 3.07.

The 75-plus age group, with 22.7 per cent of the deaths, has the highest mortality rate, of 6.68.

The state’s mortality rate is 1.07 per cent now, with that of infected males at 1.26 and of infected females 0.83.

The positive confirmation rate — the percentage of samples testing positive for the novel coronavirus — improved on Friday slightly to 31.14 from 32.13 per cent on Thursday. But it still means one out of every three tests is returning positive.

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 was 7,457 then. In the 17 days since, the state has logged nearly 2.32 lakh new infections, including 85,824 from Calcutta.

The surge was initially confined to the city and its immediate neighbourhood. The trigger then was identified by sources in the state government as a general disregard for Covid-19 safety protocols among revellers in Calcutta and surrounding areas in the run up to Christmas. However, it has become increasingly clear since that it was part of a much larger, nationwide wave and not an isolated regional spike.

The recovery rate slid further on Friday to 91.12 from 91.77 per cent on Thursday. The rate dropped by over seven percentage points in these 17 days. The national rate is 95.2 now.