Bengal on Sunday logged a drop in its total active Covid-19 cases for the 41st consecutive day, with a fall of 13,296 since Vijaya Dashami on October 26 to 23,894 now.

Also, Bengal’s recovery rate is 93.51 now, in an unbroken spell of rise for 45 consecutive days, since 87.44 recorded October 22, and inching closer to the national rate of 94.43 per cent. Taken together, the data show that much of the damage from the rapid spike in infections before Durga Puja has been undone.

The state on Sunday reported 3,167 recoveries, 3,143 new infections and 46 deaths. Ten of the deaths were reported from Calcutta.

Bengal’s total Covid-19 cases — 264 days since the first was detected on March 17 — went past 5 lakh to touch nearly 5.03 lakh, but the number includes 4.7 lakh recoveries and 8,723 deaths.

The latest 50,000 cases were detected in 15 days, 4.5 lakh cases being reported on November 21.

Prior to this, the state had logged its first 5,000 cases on May 30, 10,000 on June 12, 50,000 on July 23, 1 lakh on August 11, 2 lakh on September 13, 3 lakh on October 13, 3.5 lakh on October 26 and 4 lakh on November 7.

“Yes, the total (caseload) is over 5 lakh now, but one must always remember it includes 4.7 lakh recoveries (and 8,723 deaths),” said a minister. “Also, the latest 50,000 infections took 15 days, compared to 14 and 12 days just before this.”

In the 41 days since Dashami, Bengal recorded over 1.6 lakh recoveries, outweighing the 1.49 lakh cases found.

Calcutta High Court had intervened to prevent overcrowding and worsening of the pandemic over Durga Puja, Kali Puja, Diwali and Chhath. The number of infections during festivals in October-November showed that the court’s instructions were effective. Similar instructions are likely during Christmas.

However, the state’s mortality rate is 1.73, still behind the national rate of 1.45 per cent.
Of the total toll in Bengal, 7,307 deaths, or 83.8 per cent, have been attributed to comorbidities.

With 44,186 tests on Sunday, the state’s total test count went past 61.35 lakh, at 68,176 tests per million people. The positive confirmation rate is 8.2 per cent.

The state reported 24.88 per cent occupancy in the 13,538 beds earmarked for Covid-19 in the 102 dedicated hospitals for the pandemic, besides over 5.11 lakh telemedicine consultations so far this pandemic.