Bengal on New Year’s Eve reported 3,451 Covid-19 cases, including 1,954 in Calcutta, which were nearly 57 per cent of the total count in the state.

This is the first time that the state has logged above 3,000 infections in a 24-hour period since June 17, 197 days ago. On Christmas, the state-wide total was 552 and that of Calcutta was 197.

The number of new cases recorded on Friday was indicative of people who had been infected in the period from December 22 to 26. The 1,954 cases recorded in Calcutta is the highest daily count in the city since May 28, 217 days ago.

There were 1,510 recoveries and seven deaths reported on Friday. The total of active cases reached 10,710 with a rise by 1,934 from the previous day.

As a result, the recovery rate fell overnight to 98.14 (from 98.25 on Thursday and 98.32 on Wednesday), considerably lower now than the national rate of 98.36.

The last time Bengal recorded more than 10,000 active cases was 138 days ago on August 15. The surge in the infections since Wednesday has mostly been restricted to Calcutta and its surrounding areas.

Calcutta and its immediate neighbourhood of North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and Nadia accounted for 88.24 per cent (3,045) of the new infections reported in 24 hours till 9am on Friday.

The state’s positive confirmation rate, which was 1.71 per cent even on Christmas, rose to 8.46 per cent on New Year’s Eve. A positive confirmation rate of up to 5 per cent is considered tolerable in a pandemic.

In perhaps the only silver lining, 20 of the state’s 23 districts reported zero deaths on Friday. Calcutta recorded four fatalities. The state’s mortality rate is 1.21, while that of the nation is 1.34 per cent.

Bengal has logged over 16.38 lakh Covid cases till now. The first case had been recorded in March last year. The total includes more than 16.08 lakh recoveries and 19,764 deaths.