Active cases in Bengal drop below 25,000- state reported 3,646 recoveries, 3,545 new infections and 49 deaths

The total active cases, which fell from 37,190 on Dashami to 24,880 on Tuesday, is almost at the level of September 20, 65 days ago

The state’s recovery rate, 92.88 per cent on Tuesday, has been on the rise for 33 consecutive days.: Shutterstock

Meghdeep Bhattacharyya   |   TT  |   Calcutta   |    25.11.20  :  Bengal on Tuesday achieved the goal of taking its total active Covid-19 cases to below 25,000 within November, riding the 29-day wave of steady drop in that total since Vijaya Dashami on October 26.

The total active cases, which fell from 37,190 on Dashami to 24,880 on Tuesday, is almost at the level of September 20, 65 days ago.

In these 29 days, the state has recorded over 1.2 lakh recoveries, outweighing the 1.09 lakh cases found. On Tuesday, the state reported 3,646 recoveries, 3,545 new infections and 49 deaths, 11 of which were from Calcutta.

“Two of our main goals at the start of November were to ensure sub-25,000 total active cases and a 93 per cent-plus recovery rate by the end of the month. We achieved the first one today, and are on track for the second,” said a minister.

The state’s recovery rate, 92.88 per cent on Tuesday, has been on the rise for 33 consecutive days. The national recovery rate is 93.73 per cent.

Bengal’s total of Covid-19 cases is over 4.63 lakh now, including over 4.3 lakh recoveries and 8,121 deaths.

The minister said Tuesday’s figures largely represent infections of the November 14-15 weekend.

“Tuesday was Day 10 for someone who got infected on November 15. These statistics from the Kali Puja-Diwali weekend suggest we managed to get past the festival without much damage during this pandemic, just as we did over Durga Puja,” he said. It is between days six and 10 of the infection that most cases get detected.

Calcutta High Court had intervened with instructions against crowding to prevent a worsening of the pandemic over Durga Puja, Kali Puja, Diwali and Chhath. The numbers of infections from Puja already showed that the intervention was effective.

Of the total toll, 6,789, or 83.6 per cent are comorbid deaths. The state’s mortality rate is now 1.75, compared to national 1.46 per cent.

With 44,562 tests on Tuesday, the state’s total test count went past 56.09 lakh, at 62,332 tests per million people. The positive confirmation rate is 8.26 per cent.

The state reported 29.18 per cent occupancy in 13,508 beds earmarked for Covid-19 in 101 dedicated hospitals for the pandemic, besides over 4.78 lakh telemedicine consultations so far.