Bengal on Thursday reported a drop in total active Covid-19 cases for the fourth consecutive day as the number fell by 70 to 22,308.

The state also logged 1,952 recoveries, 1,923 infections and 41 deaths.

The daily positive confirmation rate, which was nearly 33 per cent at the peak of the second wave, plummeted to 3.45 on Thursday. The positive confirmation rate is the percentage of positive cases out of total samples tested. A decreasing positive confirmation rate is indicative of reducing levels of Covid spread.

The total active cases had improved till June 9 by around 89 per cent to 14,702, from the all-time high of 1,32,181 on May 21. But over 11 days till Sunday, it had risen again by over 56 per cent, before starting to fall again over these four days.

Bengal currently has 3.57 per cent of the national total of active cases and remains eighth on the list of states with most active cases.

The state now has a total of over 14.89 lakh Covid cases since the first was detected on March 17 last year. The total cases include over 14.49 lakh recoveries and 17,516 deaths.

Of the 41 deaths reported on Thursday, eight were in Calcutta and nine in North 24-Parganas, the two worst-affected districts. Calcutta on Thursday logged 155 infections and North 24-Parganas 217.

Bengal’s recovery rate rose to 97.33 per cent. The national recovery rate is 96.58now.

The state’s mortality rate is 1.17 per cent, while the national rate is 1.3.