Bengal on Monday saw another highest single-day jump in Covid-19 numbers, with 2,282 new infections.

This was the 25th consecutive day of increasing numbers of infections since June 26, forcing the state government to declare a total lockdown twice a week to try and break the chain of transmission.

Even as the Mamata Banerjee government acknowledged the possibility of community transmission having begun in some parts of the state, the health department reported 35 more deaths in the 24-hour window till Monday 9am.

The Covid-19 toll touched 1,147 since the onset of the pandemic in the state. The total number of infections zoomed past 44,000 and total recoveries crossed 26,000. In the past 24 hours, 1,535 patients recovered.

Prior to this, the highest rise in cases was 2,278 and the most recoveries was 1,344, both reported on Sunday.

“In just seven days, Bengal logged 13,321 new cases. Since June 26, we have had 29,121 new cases,” said a minister.

Although the state logged 7,205 recoveries in a week and 16,228 since June 26, the recovery rate fell from 65.12 per cent to 59.01 per cent in the 25 days, because of the substantial rise in new cases.

The national recovery rate is now 62.96 per cent.

Of the 2,282 new cases, nearly 80 per cent were reported from Calcutta and four surrounding and crowded districts. Calcutta reported 645, while North 24-Parganas reported 574. “Experts believe this new structure of biweekly lockdowns will help contain the outbreak in this major cluster (of five districts),” the minister said.

The state’s total test count is now 7,16,365, with 7,960 tests per million. On Monday, the state reported 13,081 tests.

Owing to the sharp spike in new cases, the positive confirmation rate — the percentage of people found infected among those tested — deteriorated drastically since June 26, from 3.56 to 6.25 per cent.

Of the 1,147 deaths reported, Calcutta accounted for 592, with 16 of them on Monday. North 24-Parganas reported 221 deaths, eight on Monday.

Of 1,147 deaths, the state government reported 958, or 83.5 per cent, as deaths with comorbidity “present”. Bengal’s overall mortality rate improved to 2.56 from 3.87 per cent on June 26. Calcutta’s mortality rate is 4.23 now, the nation’s being 2.44 per cent. “Bengal’s mortality rate should fall to less than 2 per cent in two weeks or less,” the minister said.