Bengal on Thursday recorded 81 straight days of a fall in its total number of active Covid-19 cases, with 724 new infections, 758 recoveries and eight deaths.

The total fell by 42 to 8,246.

Bengal has 2.13 per cent of the country’s active Covid-19 infections and is seventh among states with the highest number of such cases.

Calcutta logged 118 new infections and North 24-Parganas 111, the only two of the state’s 23 districts with a three-digit figure of new infections in a day.

Six districts reported a single-digit figure.

Nineteen Bengal districts reported zero deaths on Thursday. Calcutta logged two.

The state’s recovery rate is 98.28 per cent, its highest this pandemic, and fairly ahead of the national rate of 97.46.

Bengal’s daily positive confirmation rate, nearly 33 per cent at the peak of the second wave, was 1.84 per cent on Thursday.

The state’s mortality rate is 1.19 per cent, while that of the nation is 1.33.

The state currently has over 15.54 lakh Covid-19 cases, since the first was reported in March last year. The total includes nearly 15.28 lakh recoveries and 18,539 deaths.