Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday furnished figures to substantiate her claim that despite Covid-19, Bengal had seen less deaths this year compared to 2019, suggesting that the extent and the effects of the pandemic were not alarming yet in the state.

“I was trying to tell you this (yesterday). Last year, between April 1 and July 31, for all possible causes, total deaths in Bengal were 1,20,457. This year, also between April 1 and July 31, the total death toll of the state is 1,19,916. That is less, year-on-year, by 541…. This year’s figure includes the Covid-19 deaths,” the Bengal chief minister told a news conference at the state secretariat.

Wednesday’s count of deaths from Covid-19 was 55, which took the toll to 2,964.

Mamata was following up on her claim that deaths in Bengal had come down compared to 2019, while speaking of comorbid deaths getting recorded as Covid-19 deaths. As of Wednesday, 2,586 (87.2 per cent) of the total pandemic death toll was attributed to comorbidities by the state government.

“There is this perception that many deaths are taking place because of Covid-19… this is what I was trying to say. Strokes, cancer, heart attacks, accidents… there are so many factors for death. We actually conducted a study to see if a lot of people are actually dying because of Covid-19,” said Mamata, who is also the health minister. The state’s mortality remained 2 per cent, while the national rate was 1.83.

“Actually, those with comorbidities, only some of them are dying. Those with mild or no symptoms are getting well easily. Our recovery rate (79.75 per cent now) has been on the rise. We will have to ensure it keeps rising,” she added.

Hours later, the health department’s daily Covid-19 bulletin reported yet another fall — deemed a significant positive — in the total active cases in the state, now 26,954. On Sunday, that total was 28,069.

The state reported another 24-hour high in recoveries, at 3,314, which outweighed the 2,974 new cases.

With 40,031 tests, the state managed to cross the 40,000 mark in daily testing, taking the total test count to over 16.74 lakh, at 18,601 tests per million.

The turnaround for the five high-incidence districts of Calcutta, North and South 24-Parganas, Howrah and Hooghly continued, as they logged a collective fall by 349 in their total active cases.

“These five districts had 18,048 total active cases on August 9, after which the turnaround began. On Wednesday, they have a total of 15,529 active cases. Calcutta alone has improved from 7,041 to 5,526,” said a minister.

Bengal reported 35 per cent occupancy of 12,045 Covid-19 beds at 87 hospitals.

Telemedicine services have been provided to nearly 1.28 lakh till now, including 4,617 in the past 24 hours.