Bengal on Friday recorded 47 straight days of a drop in the total number of Covid-19 active cases, as the state reported 717 new infections, 787 recoveries and nine deaths.

Active cases fell by 79 to 10,642 in the state. Bengal has 2.61 per cent of the national total of active cases, and is ninth among states with most such cases.

Calcutta logged 71 new infections and no death.

With North 24-Parganas logging 86 new cases, Friday was again a day when not a single Bengal district reported a three-digit figure of new infections in a day. Seventeen districts reported a two-digit figure and North and South Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad, Birbhum and Purulia single-digit figures.

The state’s recovery rate is 98.12 per cent, still fairly ahead of the national rate of 97.34.

Sixteen Bengal districts, including Calcutta, reported zero deaths on Friday, while Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Nadia, Jhargram and Hooghly reported one each.

The state’s daily positive confirmation rate, which was nearly 33 per cent at the peak of the second wave, was 1.5 per cent on Friday.

The state’s mortality rate is 1.18 now, while that of the nation is 1.33 per cent.

Bengal now has over 15.32 lakh Covid-19 cases, since the first was reported in March last year. The total includes more than 15.03 lakh recoveries and 18,202 deaths.