Bengal on Sunday reported a record number of Covid-19 tests at 16,045, which took the total test count beyond the 8 lakh milestone.

The state had conducted one lakh tests by May 19 and it took 68 more days to reach the 8 lakh mark. However, the time to reach the latest count of 8,05,185 from total seven lakh tests was just a week, which was the quickest. So, the tests per million are now 8,947.

The death toll from Covid-19 rose to 1,372 with 40 people succumbing to the pathogen during the 24-hour period till 9am on Sunday. Calcutta alone accounted for 686 deaths with 17 of them being reported on Sunday. North 24-Parganas reported a total of 274 deaths, five of which were on Saturday. The state government reported 1,174 deaths (85.6 per cent) as those with comorbidity “present”.

“We started testing in the first week of February and took over three-and-a-half months to get past 1 lakh on May 19. After that, we crossed 2 lakh in 12 days (on May 31), 3 lakh in 11 days (on June 11), 4 lakh in 10 days (on June 21), 5 lakh in 11 days (on July 2), 6 lakh in nine days (on July 11) and 7 lakh in eight days (on July 19),” said a Bengal minister.

Prior to Sunday, the highest number of tests conducted in a 24-hour period were 15,628 reported on Saturday.

“Now, we are past 8 lakh in just seven days. We will cross 9 lakh in six days or less,” said the minister.

Owing to the sharp spike in the new cases, the positive confirmation rate – the percentage of people found infected among those tested – deteriorated drastically in a month, from around 3.5 to 7.29 per cent.

The state on Sunday reported 2,097 new recoveries, lifting the total number of cured cases to 37,751 and the discharge rate to 64.29 per cent.

“The national rate is 63.96. We have gone past it, again. Now, yet again, we shall rise head and shoulders above the national rate,” said the minister.

Of the 2,341 new cases reported on Sunday, nearly three-fourths were from Calcutta and its immediate neighbourhood.

The city alone reported 648 cases, while North 24-Parganas logged 542. Of the total 58,718 Covid-19 cases, over 52 per cent have been reported from just Calcutta and North 24-Parganas.

Bengal’s overall mortality rate improved further to 2.33, just a shade before the national rate of 2.29 per cent. Calcutta’s mortality rate improved to 3.76.