Bengal on Tuesday reported 2,931 new Covid-19 cases, taking its total number of infections past 1 lakh with 1,01,390 lab-tested cases.

The state now ranks the seventh in India in terms of most recorded novel coronavirus cases. Maharashtra with 5.35 lakh, Tamil Nadu with 3.08 lakh and Andhra Pradesh with 2.44 lakh have reported the most number of Covid-19 infections in India.

Since the first infection in Bengal on March 17, the state has taken 147 days to log 1 lakh cases. Of the 1 lakh cases, nearly 74,000 are recoveries.

“We doubled from 50,000 in 19 days, which is better than the 14 days we took to double from 25,000. Prior to that, we doubled in 21 days from 12,500, in 15 days from 6,250, and from 3,125 and 1,562 in 13 days each,” said a minister.

On Tuesday, 49 patients died of Covid in Bengal, taking the total state toll to 2,149. Calcutta reported 18 deaths and North 24-Parganas nine on Tuesday. In all, 980 people died of Covid in Calcutta and 499 in North 24-Parganas.

On the brighter side, for the second consecutive day on Tuesday, a rise in recoveries lowered the number of active cases from the previous day.

The number of active cases fell by 185 to 25,846, as 3,067 recoveries in 24 hours till Tuesday 9am bettered the 2,931 new infections.

The recovery rate rose further to 72.39 per cent, ahead of the national rate of 70.31.

“Active cases, which is the key (indicator), is only a fourth of the total number of infections now, a major plus,” the minister said.

Of the new cases, 711 were reported from the city and 643 from North 24-Parganas. These two districts also reported 877 and 658 recoveries, and active cases fell by 184 in Calcutta, to 6,615, and by 24 in North 24-Parganas, to 5,626.

The state achieved another new high in daily testing, with 27,015 tests done on Tuesday. bettering Monday’s 26,297. “We are looking to go past 35,000 tests daily in the next couple of weeks,” said the minister. The state now has done nearly 11.6 lakh tests, at 12,880 per million people.