Bengal on Sunday logged 3,612 new Covid-19 cases, yet another 24-hour high, as the total number of patients went past 2.94 lakh, including nearly 2.59 lakh who were cured of the pathogen and 5,622 who succumbed to the disease.
The state also reported 59 deaths and 3,110 recoveries.
The recovery rate fell from 87.98 on Tuesday to 87.84 per cent. The national rate is 86.18 per cent.
“On nine out of 11 days so far in October, the record for the intra-day spike has been reset. It is a very worrisome sign with barely two weeks to go for Durga Puja,” said a Bengal minister.
“This month has been rather difficult with the problems likely to be compounded by the last week,” he added.
With a rise by 443, to 30,236 now, Bengal reported a jump in the total number of active Covid-19 cases for the 33rd consecutive day, which came right after a 15-day streak of fall in that total.
“This is the first time that our total of active cases went past 30,000. It had fallen to as low as 23,000 a few weeks ago,” said the minister.
“We have been getting over 1,500 new cases from just two high-incidence districts (Calcutta and North 24-Parganas) regularly. When that happens, keeping the overall count low becomes a huge challenge,” he added.
The state reported 42,611 tests on Sunday, taking the total past 36.93 lakh, at 41,040 tests per million people.
“We have been logging one lakh tests every two days for a while now. We are on track for crossing the total of 45 lakh by the end of this month,” said the minister.
The positive confirmation rate is 7.98 per cent now.
Of the total 5,622 deaths reported, Calcutta alone accounted for 1,877, with 16 reported on Sunday. With 18 more deaths on Sunday, North 24-Parganas reported a Covid-19 toll of 1,265.
The state reported 4,763 deaths (84.7 per cent) as those with comorbidity “present”.
Bengal’s overall mortality rate remained at 1.9, still substantially behind the national rate of 1.53 per cent.
The state reported 37.4 per cent occupancy on 12,715 beds earmarked for Covid-19 at 92 dedicated hospitals.
Besides, over 3.19 lakh telemedicine consultations were also reported till Sunday.
