Bengal on Sunday reported 278 new Covid-19 infections, including 40 from Calcutta, a three-digit figure for 14 consecutive days since infections spiked in the third wave.

The state logged 1,373 recoveries and 13 deaths, resulting in a drop in active cases by 1,108 to 5,540, the lowest since March 30 last year, 327 days ago. Calcutta logged seven deaths. The positive confirmation rate is 0.9 per cent now in the state.

Covid recovery rate in Bengal improved for 35 consecutive days to reach 98.68 per cent. The national rate is 98.28 now.

Between December 29 and January 16, it had dropped by eight percentage points, before recovering by over eight percentage points over these 35 days.

In these 35 days, the state reported 2.69 lakh recoveries, which outweighed the 1.15 lakh new infections detected.

Seventeen of the state’s 23 districts reported zero deaths. Mortality rate is 1.05 per cent now.

Bengal has over 20.13 lakh cases now, since the first was detected in the state in March, 2020. The total includes more than 19.86 lakh recoveries and 21,132 deaths.