Bengal on Monday reported 19,286 Covid-19 cases, 5,556 of which were from Calcutta.

There were also 8,187 recoveries and 16 deaths on Monday, resulting in a rise by 11,083 in the total of active cases to 89,194, the highest since May 30 last year, 225 days

ago. Although the statewide total of new infections is lower than Sunday’s tally of 24,287, Bengal had 51,675 tests conducted in 24 hours till 9am on Monday, compared to 71,664 the day before. Calcutta’s total caseload on Monday is lower than the 8,712 infections recorded a day ago.

Significantly, although the state conducted 28 per cent less tests, the positive confirmation rate actually rose further to 37.32 from 33.89 on Sunday. Estimates suggest Calcutta’s positive confirmation rate could go past 70 in a few days. That basically means seven out of every 10 samples tested in the city would return positive.

A positive confirmation rate up to 5 per cent is considered tolerable in a pandemic. At the peak of the second wave last year, it had climbed to 33 per cent.

The surge was initially confined to the city and its immediate neighbourhood. The trigger then was identified by sources in the state government as the general disregard for Covid-19 safety protocols among revellers in the run up to Christmas. However, it has become increasingly clear since that the surge was part of a much larger nationwide wave and not an isolated regional spike.

Calcutta and its immediate neighbourhood of North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and Nadia accounted for 73.76 per cent (14,227) of the new infections on Monday.

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

In the 13 days since, the state has logged 1.42 lakh new infections, including 58,564 from Calcutta. The recovery rate slid further on Monday to 93.85 from the 94.42 per cent on Sunday, having dropped by nearly five percentage points in 13 days. The national rate is 96.62 now.

Fifteen of the state’s 23 districts reported zero deaths on Monday. Calcutta reported four. Bengal’s mortality rate is 1.12, while that of the nation is 1.3 per cent.

Bengal now has over 17.74 lakh Covid-19 cases since the first was logged in March 2020. The total does include more than 16.65 lakh recoveries and 19,917 deaths.