Bengal, on Day One of Covid-19 vaccination, logged 666 recoveries, 609 new infections and 15 deaths, including two from Calcutta.

The numbers dragged the total of active cases down for the 82nd consecutive day since Vijaya Dashami on October 26 last year to 7,151 now from 37,190 82 days ago.

In 82 days, the state reported over 2.37 lakh recoveries and 2.1 lakh new infections.

Currently, Bengal has 3.4 per cent of the national total of active cases.

Recovery rate has risen for 86 days straight, from 87.44, to 96.96 per cent, bettering the national rate by 0.42 per cent.

Calcutta High Court’s instructions against crowding, which proved effective in preventing the pandemic from getting worse over Durga Puja, Kali Puja, Diwali and Chhath, also reined in infections around New Year celebrations, a minister said. “Saturday was Day 10 for someone who got infected on January 7…There has been no spike in the corresponding period for the Christmas-New Year revelry. With vaccination taking off, we could be on the verge of being out of the woods,” he said. It is between days six and 10 of the infection that most cases get detected.

The state’s Covid-19 total of 5.65 lakh cases includes nearly 5.48 lakh recoveries and 10,041 deaths.

Bengal’s mortality rate is now 1.77, compared to the 1.44 per cent nationally. “Daily toll has come down drastically over the past month or so, down from 50-60 to 20 or less, but mortality rate has not improved as the number of new infections found daily has also reduced sharply,” said the minister.

The state attributed 8,424 deaths or 83.9 per cent of the total toll to comorbidities.The state’s positive confirmation rate is 7.41 per cent now, having improved steadily from the 8.27, 57 days ago.

Bengal’s total test count — including 30,011 tests on Saturday — is over 76.21 lakh now, at 84,679 tests per million people.