Bengal on Thursday reported 10,959 Covid-19 cases, including 1,759 in Calcutta.
In 24 hours till 9am on Thursday, the state also logged 17,815 recoveries and 37 deaths, resulting in a drop in the total of active cases by 6,893 to 1,44,809. This was the fourth consecutive day of such a drop in the third wave.
Before Monday, the last drop in the total of active cases was registered on December 27 last year.
Twelve of the state’s 23 districts reported zero deaths on Thursday. Calcutta logged nine fatalities and North 24-Parganas 14.
The positive confirmation rate — the percentage of samples testing positive for the novel coronavirus — improved to 16.27 per cent from 16.98 on Wednesday.
On January 10, it had reached an all-time high of 37.32 per cent in Bengal. In the 10 days since, it has improved by over 56 per cent.
Deemed a crucial indicator in the pandemic, the positive confirmation rate means one out of every six samples is testing positive currently. On January 10, two out of every five samples tested positive.
A positive confirmation rate up to 5 per cent is considered tolerable in a pandemic. At the peak of the devastating second wave last year, the rate had climbed to 33 per cent.
The recovery rate also improved for the fourth consecutive day as it climbed to 91.49 per cent on Thursday from 91.09 per cent on Wednesday. Prior to this, it had dropped by nearly eight percentage points after December 28. The national rate is 93.69 now.
On December 28, which was the last day of relatively normal numbers before the latest spell of surge in Bengal, the statewide total of fresh infections was 752, which included 382 from Calcutta. The total active caseload was 7,457 then.
In the 23 days since, the state has logged around 3.08 lakh new infections, including over 1.02 lakh from Calcutta.
The state’s mortality rate is 1.04 per cent now, with that of infected males at 1.22 and of infected females, 0.81.
Bengal has nearly 19.39 lakh cases now since the first was detected in the state in March, 2020. The total includes over 17.74 lakh recoveries and 20,230 deaths.
