November ends with recovery rate at a new high of 93.23%

Bengal also recorded a drop in its total of active cases for the 35th consecutive day since the end of Durga Puja

The state reported 2,671 new infections and 48 deaths in a day : File picture

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Meghdeep Bhattacharyya   |   TT   |   Calcutta   |    01.12.20  :  Bengal on Monday surpassed 4.5 lakh Covid-19 recoveries, as 2,730 recoveries logged till 9am took the total to nearly 4.51 lakh, and the recovery rate to a new high of 93.23 per cent.

The state, which also reported 2,671 new infections and 48 deaths, recorded a drop in its total of active cases for the 35th consecutive day since the end of Durga Puja.

However, the lower number of infections reported on Monday was also because the state reported 38,178 tests, compared to the current level of around 45,000 daily tests.

The state’s total test count went past 58.72 lakh, at 65,255 tests per million people. The positive confirmation rate is 8.23 per cent.

Having fallen by 12,892 since Vijaya Dashami on October 26, the total active cases now is 24,298, back almost to where it was on September 16, 75 days ago.

“We crossed the 4.5 lakh mark in recoveries today (Monday), 13 days after the 4 lakh mark (on November 17). The first 50,000 of Bengal’s recoveries were achieved on August 1, over a span of 137 days from the first case (detected on March 17),” said a minister.

In the 35 days since Dashami, Bengal reported over 1.4 lakh recoveries and 1.29 lakh new infections, undoing much of the damage from a major spike in infections and relatively fewer recoveries for six weeks prior to the festival.

Bengal’s recovery rate, currently in an unbroken spell of rise for 39 consecutive days, inched closer to the national rate of 93.86 per cent.

Bengal’s total of Covid-19 cases is over 4.83 lakh now, including recoveries and 8,424 deaths.

Of the 48 deaths reported on Monday, 12 were from the city. Of the total toll, 7,049 or 83.7 per cent of the deaths were comorbid, according to the state government.

The state’s mortality rate is now 1.74, compared to the national rate of 1.45 per cent.

Calcutta High Court’s intervention to prevent a spike in cases from overcrowding during Durga Puja, Kali Puja, Diwali and Chhath has seemed to work, going by the numbers of infections reported in late October and November.

The state reported 27.91 per cent occupancy in the 13,538 beds earmarked for Covid-19 in the 102 dedicated hospitals for the pandemic, besides over 4.95 lakh telemedicine consultations so far this pandemic.