Covid-19 tests in Bengal went past 1 lakh and the state’s positive confirmation rate fell below 3 per cent on Tuesday.

The highest number of intra-day tests of 8,712, were conducted on Tuesday, while the recovery rate stayed on the rise at 36.27 per cent.

The state also reported 1,136 tests per million people that was 585 a week ago on May 12. In the past seven days, Bengal had 49,660 tests to rise to 1,02,282 tests. A month ago, on April 19, the state had a total of 5,045 tests and 56 tests per million.

“Getting past the 1 lakh tests mark took more than two months because approval for laboratories and kits from the Centre took time. Now, we have seized the momentum. The next one lakh tests will be conducted in less than two weeks,” said a minister.

The positive confirmation rate — the percentage of people found infected among those tested — fell from 4.13 per cent on May 12 to 2.89 on Tuesday. A decreasing positive confirmation rate is indicative of lower levels of Covid-19 spread.

“Simply put, it means the rate of novel coronavirus patients being found is decreasing despite a quantum leap in the number of tests being conducted,” said the minister.

The state on Tuesday — in 24 hours till 9am — reported release of 68 cured Covid-19 patients. The total number of cured patients is now 1,074.

The recovery rate has risen by over eight per cent in a week to 36.27 per cent.

The state on Tuesday reported six deaths — four in Calcutta — directly from the pathogen, taking the total toll to 178, up from 126 a week ago. There were, till April 30, death of 72 other Covid-19 patients, attributed by the state government to comorbidities.

There were 136 new confirmed cases, taking the total active cases to 1,637, 739.

There are 12,482 people in the 582 state-run quarantine centres and another 86,952 in home quarantine. The numbers in home quarantine increased by over 77,000 since the 9,576 reported on May 8, after which the return of people from Bengal, stranded elsewhere in India, began in large numbers.

The state has distributed to its hospitals 9.33 lakh personal protective equipment sets, 3.95 lakh N95 or FFP2 masks, 27.15 lakh regular masks, 1.41 lakh litres of hand sanitiser and 16.6 lakh gloves.