Bengal on Sunday logged a drop in the total of active Covid-19 cases for the sixth consecutive day, resetting the highest number of recoveries for the 13th day running with 4,053 cured patients.

The state also reported 3,987 new cases and 59 deaths on Sunday. Since Durga Puja ended, Bengal has been recording less than 4,000 new cases every day.

There has not been such a spell of fall in the total of active cases since a 15-day streak ended on September 7.

“Now, we are getting numbers of infections during the Puja proper. For someone who got infected on Mahasaptami, Sunday was Day 10 for them. The Covid-19 figures we get over the next few days are of the Puja days. From whatever we have been seeing since Tuesday, there is ample scope for optimism,” said a Bengal minister. It is between days six and 10 of the infection that most cases get detected.

The recovery rate — which had taken a two-week tumble since October 6 — rose to a new high of 88.44 on Sunday. The national rate is 91.51 per cent now.

“This is quite incredible. After the Onam experience in Kerala and the disregard for safety protocol by masses just before Puja, there was an apprehension of a major surge in the cases in Bengal. So far, there is little indication of the situation spiralling out of control,” the minister said.

In the six days since the end of Puja, the state logged 23,829 new cases, outnumbered by the 23,904 recoveries, resulting in a drop in the total active cases from 37,190 to 36,761.

“The numbers this week should, conclusively, tell us whether Calcutta High Court’s intervention, to keep unbridled revelry from worsening the outbreak into a full-fledged public health emergency, was effective. If the post-Puja numbers, so far, are the start of a trend, the judicial intervention could have been a blessing from the goddess,” the minister said.

The total of novel coronavirus cases in Bengal went past 3.77 lakh, including nearly 3.34 lakh recoveries and 6,900 deaths.

With 44,457 swab samples being reported examined on Sunday, Bengal achieved over 46 lakh tests at 51,121 per million people.

The positive confirmation rate is 8.21 per cent now.

Of the total 6,900 deaths reported, the state government attributed 5,805 (84.1 per cent) to comorbidities. Bengal’s overall mortality rate is 1.82 now, still behind the national rate of 1.49 per cent.

The state reported 35.09 per cent occupancy on 12,811 beds earmarked for Covid-19 at 94 dedicated hospitals.

Besides, around 4 lakh telemedicine consultations on Covid have been given so far.