Bengal on Tuesday reported a drop in its total active Covid-19 cases for the 36th consecutive day, a spell that began since Vijaya Dashami on October 26.

Having fallen by 12,969 since Dashami, the total active cases in Bengal now stand at 24,221.

The state on Tuesday also reported 3,340 recoveries, 3,315 new infections and 52 deaths, including eight from Calcutta.

In these 36 days, Bengal reported over 1.44 lakh recoveries and 1.32 lakh new novel coronavirus infections, undoing much of the damage from a spike in infections and relatively fewer recoveries for a six-week period in the run-up to Durga Puja.

The state now has a total of over 4.86 lakh infections since the onset of the pandemic, which includes over 4.54 lakh recoveries and 8,476 deaths.

“After a fairly bad September and a terrible phase in the first three weeks of October, November turned out to be the month of a remarkable, unprecedented turnaround for us. We hope we are able to persist with this in December as well,” said a state minister.

Bengal’s recovery rate, currently in an unbroken spell of rise for 40 consecutive days, rose to 93.28 per cent on Tuesday, closer to the national rate of 94 per cent. “We will soon surpass 95 and widen the gap with the national rate after bettering it,” said the minister.

Crowded year-end revelries pose a threat of exposure to infection.

Calcutta High Court had intervened to prevent a worsening of the pandemic over Durga Puja, Kali Puja, Diwali and Chhath. The numbers of infections from the festivals in October and November had shown that the court’s instructions had been effective to contain the crowds.

Of the total toll, 7,096 deaths or 83.7 per cent are comorbid deaths, said the state government.

However, Bengal’s mortality rate is now 1.74, still lagging behind the national rate of 1.45 per cent.

With 43,241 tests on Tuesday, the state’s total test count went past 59.16 lakh, at 65,735 tests per million people. The positive confirmation rate is 8.23 per cent.

The state reported 27.28 per cent occupancy in the 13,538 beds earmarked for Covid-19 in the 102 dedicated hospitals for the pandemic, besides over 4.98 lakh telemedicine consultations so far.