Bengal on Monday reported the eighth consecutive day of a drop in its total of active Covid-19 cases, by 304 to touch 21,580.

The state reported 2,033 recoveries, 1,761 new infections and 32 deaths in the past 24 hours.

This dip in infections and active cases reflected in the key parameter of case growth, which is the percentage of growth of cases over the past week compared to the week earlier. Bengal now is 23rd among states in case growth, with a fall of 59.9 per cent.

With Calcutta logging 164 new infections and North 24-Parganas 186, Monday was the first time since the second wave when none of Bengal’s 23 districts reported over 200 new cases in 24 hours. Fifteen Bengal districts reported double-digit figures of new infections detected in a day. Best-performers Malda and Purulia reported single-digit figures.

Of the 32 deaths, seven were from the city and nine from North 24-Parganas. Thirteen Bengal districts reported zero deaths on Monday. Five others reported one each.

Bengal’s recovery rate is 97.38 per cent, while the national rate is 96.83.

The daily positive confirmation rate, nearly 33 per cent at the peak of the second wave, was 3.52 on Monday. The dip in percentage of positive cases out of samples tested indicates reducing Covid-19 spread.

The total number of active cases had fallen till June 9 by around 89 per cent to 14,702 from the peak of 1,32,181 on May 21. But for 11 days till June 20, it had risen again by over 56 per cent, before starting to fall again in these eight days.

Bengal in all has 14.96 lakh Covid-19 cases since March 2020. It includes 14.57 lakh recoveries and 17,644 deaths.