Bengal logged 25 deaths from Covid-19 on Tuesday as the state set record number of fatalities for five days in a row.

The death toll went past 800 to touch 804 even as the total number of Covid-19 cases rose to 23,837 on Tuesday. The previous highest record in deaths was 22 on Monday.

The state reported 850 new infections on Tuesday.

While Bengal’s overall mortality rate stood at 3.37 per cent, that of the city was 5.7. The national rate now is 2.78 per cent.

“The male mortality rate is 3.38, while the female mortality rate is 3.34 per cent. Hypertension continues to be the most lethal comorbidity, causing 22.67 per cent of the male deaths and 27.14 per cent of the female deaths,” said a source in the government.

Sources in the state government said the alarming rise in cases and deaths since June 26 had prompted the decision to enforce another round of strict lockdown in containment zones.

Of the 804 deaths, Calcutta alone accounted for 438. Ten of the 25 deaths reported till 9am on Tuesday were from Calcutta. Out of the 804 deaths, 636 or 79.1 per cent were reported by the state government as those with comorbidity “present”.

Last week, more than 600 new cases were reported daily between Monday (June 29) and Friday. On Saturday, it went past 700. On Sunday, it stopped just short of 900, at 895.

On Monday (July 6), 861 new infections were reported.

“In just nine days, the state recorded 6,554 new cases and 165 deaths. The total active cases now are 7,243, which were 5,451 nine days ago,” said the source.

He said 4,597 recoveries over those nine days was a silver lining, but the rise in the cases and deaths outweighed the positives. On Tuesday, 555 new recoveries were reported, taking the total to 15,790. The recovery rate now is 66.24 per cent, still ahead of the national rate of 61.5.

Of the 850 new cases, over 96 per cent were from districts that experienced a high volume of returns of migrant workers and others stranded elsewhere in the country during the initial stages of the lockdown. Calcutta alone reported 291.

Nearly 6.59 lakh people have successfully completed quarantine and they include around 2.61 lakh migrants who returned by Shramik Special trains. Barely 55,000 now remain in quarantine.

The state’s total test count is now 5,62,137, with 6,246 tests per million. On Tuesday, 10,130 tests were reported. A month ago, the state had around 2.71 lakh tests, at 3,012 tests per million.

Owing to the considerable rise in the new cases, the positive confirmation rate — the percentage of people found infected among those tested — deteriorated from 3.02 a month ago to 4.24 per cent.

Of 10,607 Covid-19 beds at 79 dedicated hospitals in the state, 26.56 per cent are occupied.