Bengal on Saturday logged 2,717 Covid-19 recoveries, 2,155 new infections and 43 deaths, of which nine were reported from Calcutta.

Active cases, 37,190 on Vijaya Dashami 54 days ago, have dropped to 18,460, undoing the damage of five months, said a minister. The state’s recovery rate, rising for 58 consecutive days, is now 94.81, a little behind the national rate of 95.48. The mortality rate is now 1.74, compared to the national 1.45 per cent. The state’s positive confirmation rate is 8.02, better than 8.27 on November 20. “We are taking the same number of tests but getting fewer infections,” said the minister.

With 42,257 tests on Saturday, the state’s total test count rose to 66.66 lakh, at 74,608 tests per million people.

In these 54 days since the end of Puja, the state has recorded nearly 1.97 lakh recoveries, outweighing the 1.81 lakh cases found.

Calcutta High Court had intervened to prevent a worsening of the pandemic over Durga Puja, Kali Puja, Diwali and Chhath. The numbers of infections from the festivals in October and November has shown that the court’s instructions were effective.

The state now has a total of 5.34 lakh Covid-19 cases, including over 5.07 lakh recoveries and 9,320 deaths.

Of the total deaths, 7,825, or 84 per cent, were attributed to co-morbidities by the state government.

Bengal reported 17.56 per cent occupancy in the 13,588 beds earmarked for Covid-19 in the 102 dedicated hospitals for the pandemic, besides over 5.38 lakh telemedicine consultations.