Bengal on Monday recorded a drop in total active Covid-19 cases — by 245 to 1,31,560 — for the second consecutive day after a 65-day spell of relentless rise in the figure.
On Monday, the state reported 19,003 infections and 147 deaths, besides 19,101 recoveries.
Prior to these two days, the last time the state had reported a drop in the total active cases was on March 11 — which was the end of a 136-day spell of steady drop in the number of active patients.
A minister pointed out that while there had been slightly fewer infections detected over the past three days, there were relatively fewer tests — on Friday, there were 70,051 tests reported, compared to Monday’s 60,016.
“The positive confirmation rate actually rose from 9.68 on Friday to 10.02 per cent. That means relatively more infections were detected, despite there being fewer tests,” said the minister.
“Therefore, there is no reason to believe yet that the widely predicted trough, after the crest till mid-May, is already here,” he added.
Bengal now has 3.9 per cent of the national total of active cases, and is eighth place on the list of states with most active cases.
In what is being noted as a significantly positive indicator, the recovery rate rose for the 16th consecutive day, to 87.42 per cent. The national rate now is 85.49.
Of the 147 deaths, 37 each were reported from the city and North 24-Parganas, the two worst affected districts.
While Calcutta logged 3,899 new infections, North 24-Parganas reported 4,220 on Monday.
The state’s total Covid-19 casualty count now is 13,431, while the mortality rate is 1.16 per cent. The national rate is now 1.1.
“The mortality rate has been falling in the second wave, despite the number of deaths in a day going up from 0-2 to 140-plus in a matter of weeks. This has been possible only because of an exponential increase in the denominator (the total number of cases), so this trend is not really a plus,” said the minister.
Exactly two months ago, the state had reported one death and 303 new infections, with the total cases at 5.79 lakh. On Monday, the total cases stood at 11.52 lakh, with 19,003 new infections and 147 deaths.