Bengal on Monday lowered total active Covid19 cases to less than 10,000 as the state recorded a drop in the count for 70 consecutive days since Vijaya Dashami on October 26.

The active cases at present are 9,671 — almost back to the figure 146 days ago on July 11.

In these 70 days, the total of active cases has improved by 74 per cent, from 37,190 on October 26.

“This is a moment of pride for us. Getting back to a four digit total in active cases is a stellar achievement at this stage of the pandemic,” said a minister.

Bengal has fallen to the sixth place — from third, a few weeks ago — on the list of states with the most active cases. The state now has around 4.2 per cent of the national total of active cases, down from over seven, weeks ago.

On Monday, the state logged 597 infections — the lowest tally in months. There were also 1,347 recoveries and 25 deaths. The 597 new cases were detected from 25,256 tests, considerably less than the 42,00045,000 swab samples tests now conducted daily –The recovery rate has risen for 74 consecutive days, by over nine per cent, to 96.49. The national rate is now 96.29 per cent.

“We will stretch our lead to two per cent by the end of the month,” said the minister.

Since the end of Durga Puja, the state has reported nearly 2.26 lakh recoveries, outweighing the 2.01 lakh new infections detected.

The state’s total 5.55 lakh Covid cases include over 5.36 lakh recoveries and 9,817 deaths.

Monday’s 25 deaths included eight recorded in Calcutta.

The state attributed 8,232 deaths (83.9 per cent of the toll) to comorbidities. Bengal’s mortality rate is now 1.76, compared to the 1.44 per cent nationally.

The state’s current positive confirmation rate is 7.68 per cent, which is a steady improvement from 8.27 per cent on November 20.

The state’s total test count went past 72.35 lakh, at 80,393 tests per million people.

Calcutta High Court had intervened to prevent a worsening of the pandemic over Durga Puja, Kali Puja, Diwali and Chhath. The numbers of infections from the festivals in October and November has shown that the court’s instructions were effective.

Last week, a similar set of instructions came from the high court, to ensure the outbreak does not worsen over the New Year celebrations.