Bengal on Friday recorded the 40th consecutive day of a fall in the total of active Covid-19 cases as the state reported 711 infections, 835 recoveries and five deaths.
The total of active cases fell by 129 to 11,171.
Nineteen Bengal districts reported zero deaths on Friday, while West Midnapore, Hooghly and Calcutta logged one each. The state’s mortality rate is 1.19, while that of the nation is 1.34 per cent.
“Even about eight weeks ago, the daily toll was around 150 with some districts reporting 50-60 deaths each. We have come a long way since,” said a minister.
“We successfully managed to arrest fatalities in the 46-60, 61-75 and 75-plus age brackets, which collectively have over 16,300 (90.1 per cent) of the total 18,128 deaths,” he added. The 61-75 age bracket of the infected has a mortality rate of 3.43, but 7,560 (41.7 per cent) of the total deaths.
In Bengal, around 12,200 (67.3 per cent) of the total deaths were of infected males.
Comorbidities caused the death of 12,642 people so far, which is 69.7 per cent of the total toll. Hypertension, with a third of the comorbid deaths, is the biggest killer. Diabetes, with over one-fourth, is close second, followed by cardiac diseases, with about a tenth of the total.
The recovery rate is currently at the state’s all-time high of 98.08 per cent, fairly ahead of the national rate of 97.33.
The daily positive confirmation rate, which was nearly 33 per cent at the peak of the second wave, was 1.65 per cent on Friday.
With Calcutta logging 74 new infections and North 24-Parganas 101, Friday was the third successive day again of at least one Bengal district reporting a three-digit figure of new infections detected.
Seventeen districts reported double-digit figures of new infections detected in a day, while Kalimpong, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur, Malda and Purulia recorded single-digit figures.
Bengal now has over 15.27 lakh Covid-19 cases since the first was reported in March last year. The total includes nearly 14.98 lakh recoveries and 18,128 deaths.