August ends with dip in active cases in state - Bengal’s recovery rate went up to 82.49 per cent, far ahead of the national rate of 76.93 per cent

Meghdeep Bhattacharyya   |   TT   |   Calcutta   |   01.09.20   :   Bengal on Monday recorded a fall its total active Covid-19 cases, across an unprecedented eight-day stretch, as 3,318 recoveries in 24 hours once again outweighed the 2,993 new cases. 

Bengal’s recovery rate went up to 82.49 per cent, far ahead of the national rate of 76.93 per cent.

Fifty-two deaths were also reported on Monday, of which 10 were from Calcutta. 

With this, Bengal now has over 1.34 lakh recoveries of the 1.62 lakh total cases since the onset of the pandemic, besides 3,228 deaths in all.

In August, by far the most eventful month for Bengal since the first Covid-19 case was reported on March 17, the state logged over 92,000 cases and 1,647 deaths, besides 86,000 recoveries and over 9.94 lakh tests. In the month, the state saw a rise by 14 per cent in recovery rate.

Bengal’s overall mortality rate dipped further to 1.98 per cent, though the national rate is still lower at 1.77 per cent. Of the 3,228 deaths, 2,803 (or 86.8 per cent) were reported comorbid by the government.

“In a month, we reduced our active ratio (percentage of total active cases to total cases) from 29 to 15. At the end of July, we were somewhere in the top 10 among states or Union territories with the highest active ratio. On Monday, we are 30th,” said a minister.

“After August 9, the 67,224 cases were matched by a remarkable total of 67,150 recoveries. There were also 7.8 lakh tests in that period,” he added.

Over the past eight days, he pointed out, the state’s total active cases fell from 28,069 to 25,280, as the five most high-incidence states of Bengal — Calcutta, North and South 24-Parganas, Howrah and Hooghly — collectively kept recording a fall in their total of active cases.

The state on Monday reported 42,239 tests, taking the total past 18.87 lakh, at 20,974 tests per million people.

“The World Health Organisation’s advisory specifies a daily minimum of 140 tests per million. Bengal was at 211 a month ago. Now, we are around 485, getting past 500 in a matter of days,” said the minister.

Because of the turnaround, positive confirmation rate improved in 10 days from 8.9 per cent to 8.62 per cent.

Bengal also reported 32.14 per cent occupancy of 12,045 Covid-19 beds in 87 hospitals, besides 15.46 in the 11,507 beds in the 200 safe homes.

Telemedicine services have been provided to over 1.49 lakh, 4,237 of them in the past 24 hours.