Bengal on Wednesday logged 2,767 Covid-19 recoveries, 2,293 infections and 46 deaths as the state’s total of active cases fell to 20,143 and the rate of cured patients rose to 94.45 per cent.
The total of active cases has fallen for 51 consecutive days since Vijaya Dashami on October 26, improving by nearly 46 per cent in this period.
The state is now on the verge of ending the year with less than 20,000 active cases, far better than its earlier goal of sub-23,000.
“This has been an exceptional period of turnaround, for nearly two months now. We are also very close to achieving our other goal of ending the year with the recovery rate of over 95,” said a minister.
The recovery rate, which has been in an unbroken spell of rise for 55 consecutive days, went up in the period by over seven per cent. The national rate now is 95.24 per cent.
In the 51 days since the end of Durga Puja, the state has recorded over 1.88 lakh recoveries, outweighing the 1.74 lakh cases found during the same period.
Calcutta High Court had intervened to prevent the worsening of the pandemic over Durga Puja, Kali Puja, Diwali and Chhath. The daily numbers of infections from the festivals in October and November showed that the court’s instructions were effective.
The state now has close to 5.28 lakh Covid-19 cases, including nearly 4.99 lakh recoveries and 9,191 deaths.
With the examination of 42,256 swab samples being reported on Wednesday, the state’s total test count rose to 65.38 lakh.
The tests per million people are 72,655 now.
The positive confirmation rate — the percentage of infections found in relation to the number of tests conducted — is 8.08 now, having improved fairly steadily from 8.27 November 20.
The 46 deaths reported on Wednesday included 17 from Calcutta.
Of the total deaths, 7,714 (83.9 per cent) were attributed to comorbidities by the state government.
The state’s mortality rate is now 1.74, compared to 1.45 per cent at the national level.
Bengal reported 19.49 per cent occupancy on 13,588 beds earmarked for Covid-19 at 102 dedicated hospitals. Over 5.33 lakh telemedicine consultations have been provided during the pandemic.