Bengal went past the 2.5 lakh mark in the total number of Covid-19 cases with 3,155 infections being recorded in 24 hours till 9am on Monday.

The state had recorded the first novel coronavirus patient on March 17. The state also reported 56 deaths and 2,923 recoveries in the 24-hour window.

Of the 2.5 lakh cases, nearly 2.2 lakh are recoveries and 4,837 are deaths.

Bengal had logged the first 5,000 Covid cases on May 30, 10,000 on June 12, 25,000 on July 9, 50,000 on July 23, 1 lakh on August 11, 1.5 lakh on August 27 and 2 lakh on September 13.

“We have not been doing badly given the stage of the pandemic and the situation in the rest of the country. We are seventh on the list of states with most total cases and 12th on the list of states with the most active cases (25,899 on Monday). Given the size and density of our population, it is acceptable,” said a minister.

The state’s recovery rate now is 87.73, still ahead of the national rate of 82.75 per cent.

As the statewide total of active patients rose for the 21st consecutive day, Calcutta alone reported 618 new cases, while North 24-Parganas had 658. On the other hand, the city logged 472 recoveries, while North 24-Parganas reported 385.

Calcutta, which had reached a high of 7,041 active cases by August 9, had improved to 4,067 by September 8. However, with the return of the rise, the city reported 5,075 active cases on Monday.

Of the total 4,837 deaths reported, the city alone accounted for 1,684, with 15 till 9am. North 24-Parganas reported a total of 1,077 deaths, eight of them on Monday.

The state government reported 4,120 deaths (85.2 per cent) as those with comorbidity “present”.

Bengal’s overall mortality rate remained 1.93, still behind the national rate of 1.57 per cent.

With 41,281 tests, the total tests went past 31 lakh, to stop just short of 31.4 lakh on Monday. The state now has 34,888 tests per million people.

“We have already conducted over 12.52 lakh tests in September and will end the month with around 13.4 lakh tests. That is just about 60,000 short of the ambitious 14 lakh target we began with,” said the minister.

Steady rise in the tests, coupled with no major increase in the number of new cases, has improved the positive confirmation rate — the percentage of total cases found out of the total number of tests conducted — from 8.9 on August 23 to 7.98 per cent.

The state reported 35.94 per cent occupancy on 12,675 beds earmarked for Covid-19 at 92 dedicated hospitals. Nearly 2.67 lakh telemedicine consultations for the pandemic were provided, including 4,261 in the past 24 hours.