Bengal on Sunday reported 3,087 new Covid-19 cases, 52 deaths and 3,207 more recoveries.

With this, the total number of cases in Bengal — the first was found on March 17 — is nearly 1.81 lakh, of which over 1.54 lakh are recoveries and 3,562 are deaths.

Of the 52 deaths on Sunday, eight were from Calcutta. Of the total deaths, 3,078 (86.4 per cent) were reported comorbid by the state government. Bengal’s mortality rate stayed at 1.97, national rate being 1.71.

“Lowering mortality rate further is our foremost priority now, but that’s not been easy. Despite best efforts, the daily toll has not fallen below 50 in weeks,” said a minister. Bengal was sixth among states with the highest mortality rates, and seventh on the list of states with the most deaths.

The recovery rate crossed the coveted mark of 85 to touch 85.19 per cent, far ahead of the national rate of 77.48. Bengal remained fourth on the list of states with the highest recovery rates, after Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Delhi.

“We have been doing well in terms of recoveries...but lowering the number of new cases found daily is also a goal, which has remained elusive,” said the minister.

Bengal crossed the 46,000 mark in daily testing, recording a new high of 46,505. Bengal now has nearly 21.59 lakh tests, at 23,985 tests per million.

Steady rise in testing, coupled with relatively lower new cases lowered the positive confirmation rate in 14 days from 8.9 to 8.37 per cent. A decreasing positive confirmation rate is indicative of reducing levels of Covid-19 spread.

For the 14th consecutive day, Bengal logged a fall in total active cases, from 28,609 on August 23 to 23,218 on Sunday.

Bengal reported 33.99 per cent occupancy of 12,355 Covid-19 beds in 91 hospitals, and 14.09 per cent in 11,507 beds of the 200 safe homes.

Telemedicine services have been provided to nearly 1.75 lakh, 4,250 of them in the past 24 hours.