Bengal on Sunday reported 624 new Covid-19 infections, 634 recoveries and 14 deaths.

Active cases in the state fell by 24 to reach 7,421.

Calcutta reported 179 new infections and four deaths on Sunday, North 24-Parganas 128 infections and three deaths.

A minister said new infections being reported now is indicative of people who got infected between October 8 and 12, and figures suggest the situation is much less alarming than what was feared.

Bengal snapped out of a 97-day streak of constant fall in the total of active cases ahead of the Puja season, on September 26. Since then, in the past 22 days, the state recorded a rise in its total of active cases for 12 days and a fall for nine days.

“October 12 was Mahasaptami. We have now gone past the pre-Puja stage and entered the actual Puja days. There were a lot of adverse estimates of things going horribly wrong, on account of people’s general disregard for Covid-19 safety protocols during the revelry. These numbers encourage us to believe that the apprehensions did not materialise,” he said.

The state now has over 3.9 per cent of the national total of active cases, and is fifth on the list of states with the highest number of such cases.

Eleven districts reported a single-digit figure of new infections on Sunday. Seventeen Bengal districts reported zero deaths.

The state’s recovery rate is 98.33 per cent, while the national rate is 98.07 now.

The daily positive confirmation rate, which was nearly 33 per cent at the peak of the second wave, was 2.3 per cent on Sunday.

The state’s mortality rate is 1.2, while that of the nation is 1.33 per cent.

Bengal now has over 15.8 lakh Covid-19 cases, since the first was logged in March last year. The total includes over 15.54 lakh recoveries and 18,977 deaths.