Bengal’s recovery rate on Tuesday went past 90 per cent for the first time, to reach 90.11 per cent, aided by a drop in the state’s total active cases for 15 days on the trot since Durga Puja.

The state logged 4,415 recoveries, resetting the record for daily recoveries for the 21st time in 22 days, 3,891 new cases and 53 deaths, 15 of them from Calcutta.

The total of active cases dropped from 37,190 to 33,444 in these 15 days, and has gone back to the level of October 17.

The state reported 62,179 recoveries in the 15 days after Puja, outweighing the 59,290 new cases detected.

With 15 days of continuous dip in active cases, Bengal matched its previous best spell that ended on September 7.

Bengal’s total of novel coronavirus cases is 4.13 lakh now, including over 3.72 lakh recoveries and 7,403 deaths.

“With a recovery rate of 90-plus, we are back on track. Before the setback of the first three weeks of October, we were en route to getting there a lot quicker. But now, we are chasing the national rate (92.68 on Tuesday) again,” said a minister.

In yet another milestone, with 44,117 tests on Tuesday, Bengal’s test total went past 50 lakh, to touch 50.03 lakh, at 55,591 tests per million people.

Calcutta High Court had intervened to prevent a worsening of the pandemic over Durga Puja. The numbers of infections from the Puja days, largely available by now, has shown that the intervention was effective. The high court has issued a similar set of instructions to keep the outbreak from worsening over Kali Puja and Diwali.

Of the total death toll, 6,200, or 83.7 per cent, were attributed to co-morbidities.

Bengal’s overall mortality rate is 1.79 now, still behind the national rate of 1.47 per cent.

The state reported 33.61 per cent occupancy in the 13,508 beds earmarked for Covid-19 in the 101 dedicated hospitals for the pandemic, besides over 4.32 lakh telemedicine consultations so far this pandemic.