Bengal on Saturday reported the 27th consecutive day of a drop in its total number of active Covid-19 cases.

Active cases fell by 151 on Saturday to reach 13,333.

The state reported 1,042 recoveries, 899 new infections and eight deaths.

Calcutta and North 24-Parganas, which were the worst-hit during the second wave of the pandemic in Bengal, logged 62 and 58 new Covid infections. Calcutta did not report a single death on Saturday and North 24-Parganas only one.

Saturday was the 10th successive day since the second wave when not one among Bengal’s 23 districts reported a three-digit figure of new infections.

Twenty districts reported double-digit figures of new infections detected in a day, while Malda, Murshidabad and Purulia reported single-digit figures.

Bengal’s daily positive confirmation rate, which was nearly 33 per cent during the peak of the second wave,

was down to 1.58 per cent on Saturday. A decreasing positive confirmation rate is indicative of reducing levels of Covid-19

Nineteen Bengal districts, including Calcutta, reported zero deaths on Saturday.

Bengal’s recovery rate is 97.94 per cent, the highest ever since the onset of the pandemic since March last year. The national recovery rate is now 97.25 per cent.

The state’s mortality rate is 1.19 per cent and that of the nation 1.32 per cent.

“We have been recording fewer than 1,000 new Covid infections in the state for many days now. The number of deaths across the state has also shown a drop. Our next goal is fewer than 10,000 active cases within a couple of weeks, after which other goals will be set,” said a minister. “The daily trend of recoveries and infections shows that Bengal seems to have safely crossed the residual of the second wave of the pandemic by now,” he added.

The state now has a total of over 15.17 lakh Covid-19 cases, since the first infection was detected in March last year. The figure includes nearly 14.86 lakh recoveries and 17,988 deaths.