Bengal on Tuesday reported 720 new Covid-19 infections, 741 recoveries and 10 deaths, dragging down active cases by 31 to 7,914 now.

A minister said new infections reported on Tuesday indicated infections between November 14 and 18.

Calcutta reported 211 new infections and four deaths. North 24-Parganas reported 134 new infections and one death. These were the only two districts with a three-digit figure of new cases found in a day. Six districts reported a single-digit figure. Seventeen districts reported zero deaths.

Calcutta, North and South 24-Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and Nadia accounted for 536 or 74.44 per cent of new infections detected on Tuesday.

Over the past 59 days, since Bengal snapped out of a 97-day streak of constant fall in its active cases or Covid patients under treatment, the state recorded a rise in active cases for 33 days, a fall for 25 days and status quo on one day. In these 59 days, there has been a net rise of 240 in the state’s active cases, from 7,674.

Bengal’s daily positive confirmation rate, which was nearly 33 per cent at the peak of the second wave, was 2 per cent on Tuesday.

The state’s recovery rate is 98.3 per cent, a shade below the national rate of 98.32.

The state’s mortality rate is 1.2 per cent, while that of the nation is 1.34 per cent.

Bengal now has over 16.11 lakh Covid-19 cases, since the first was logged in March last year. The total includes nearly 15.84 lakh recoveries and 19,407 deaths.