Bengal on Saturday logged a drop in its total active Covid-19 cases for the 26th consecutive day.

There are 25,391 active cases now, a fall by 11,799 since Dashami on October 26.

In the 26 days, the state logged over 1.08 lakh recoveries and 98,948 new cases.

Bengal on Saturday reported 3,794 recoveries, 3,639 new infections and 53 deaths.

Bengal’s recovery rate is 92.63 now, rising for 30 consecutive days since October 22. The national rate is now 93.68.

Bengal’s total caseload is nearly 4.53 lakh. “One must remember it includes 4.19 lakh recoveries (and 7,976 deaths). Also, the latest 50,000 infections took 14 days, compared to 12 days for 50,000 before this,” said a minister.

Calcutta High Court had intervened to prevent a worsening of the pandemic over Durga Puja, and then Kali Puja, Diwali and Chhath. “We are beginning to get numbers of the Kali Puja-Diwali phase now. The number of infections has not yet shown signs of a surge,” said the minister.

“But the number of recoveries has been relatively less for three days…. We hope it is only an aberration,” he added.

With 44,208 tests on Saturday, the state’s total test count went past 54.78 lakh, at 60,870 tests per million people. The positive confirmation rate is 8.26 per cent.

The 53 deaths of the day included nine from the city. Of the total death toll, 6,665, or 83.6 per cent, were attributed to co-morbidities.

The state’s mortality rate is 1.76, still less than the national rate of 1.46 per cent.

The state reported 29.3 per cent occupancy in the 13,508 beds earmarked for Covid-19 in the 101 dedicated hospitals for the pandemic, besides over 4.69 lakh telemedicine consultations so far this pandemic.