Bengal on Friday reported the fifth straight day of a drop in its total number of active Covid-19 cases, by 77, to 22,231.

The state reported 1,975 Covid-19 recoveries, 1,933 new infections and 35 deaths on Friday. Calcutta and North 24-Parganas, the two worst-hit districts, reported six and seven deaths, and 190 and 237 new infections, respectively.

“Of all 23 districts, only North 23-Parganas has over 200 daily new infections at the moment. Thirteen districts have two-digit numbers now of daily new infections found. Three of them have single-digit numbers…. The total of active cases in a dozen districts is in three-digit figures,” said a minister. Bengal’s recovery rate is now 97.33 per cent, while the national recovery rate is 96.66.

“From over 150-160 deaths, daily, till a few weeks ago, it is now less than 40 on most days. Around 10 districts, on an average, have been reporting zero deaths daily,” he added. The state’s mortality rate is 1.17 per cent, while the national rate is 1.3.

The daily positive confirmation rate, which was nearly 33 per cent in the peak of the second wave, was 3.48 on Friday. Positive confirmation rate is the percentage of positive cases out of samples tested. Decreasing positive confirmation rate indicates reducing levels of Covid-19 spread.

The total of active cases improved till June 9 by around 89 per cent to 14,702, from the all-time high of 1,32,181 on May 21. But over 11 days till Sunday, it rose by over 56 per cent, before starting to fall again over these five days.

Bengal currently has 3.7 per cent of the national total of active cases, and remains eighth among states with the most active cases.

Bengal now has a total of over 14.91 lakh Covid-19 cases since the first was detected on March 17 last year. It includes over 14.51 lakh recoveries and 17,551 deaths.