Bengal on Thursday reported 15,421 new Covid-19 infections, including 6,569 or 42.6 per cent of the state’s total from Calcutta.

The state also logged 7,343 recoveries and 19 deaths, resulting in a rise by 8,059 in active cases to 41,101, the highest since June 5, 215 days ago. Of the 19 persons who died, three were from Calcutta and seven from North 24-Parganas.

Calcutta and its immediate neighbourhood of North and South 24-Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and Nadia accounted for 12,003 or 77.84 per cent of the new infections.

Even on December 28, the last day of relatively normal numbers before the latest spell of surge in Bengal, the statewide total was 752, including 382 from Calcutta, and the total active caseload was 7,457.

Since then, the state has logged 61,927 new infections, 28,170 recoveries and 113 deaths. Calcutta alone reported 29,475 new infections, besides 13,341 recoveries and 32 deaths.

The state’s positive confirmation rate, which was 2.35 per cent on December 28, is 24.71 per cent now. That basically translates to one out of every four tests in the state returning positive. At the peak of the second wave last year, the positive confirmation rate had climbed to 33 per cent.

The surge had been attributed by state government sources to the disregard for Covid safety among revellers in the run-up to Christmas.

Bengal’s recovery rate slid further to 96.4 per cent from 96.85 on Wednesday, having dropped by nearly two percentage points in nine days. The national rate is 97.81 per cent now. Sixteen of the state’s 23 districts logged zero deaths. Bengal’s mortality rate is 1.17 and the nation’s is 1.32 per cent.

Bengal now has more than 16.93 lakh Covid-19 cases since March 2020, including over 16.32 lakh recoveries and 19,846 deaths.