Active Covid patients down to 7,083 in Bengal - The state on Sunday logged 621 recoveries, 565 infections and 12 deaths

The drop in the active number of patients was for the 83rd consecutive day since Vijaya Dashami last year : Shutterstock

Meghdeep Bhattacharyya   |   TT   |   Calcutta   |    18.01.21 : Bengal on Sunday logged 621 recoveries, 565 infections and 12 deaths, which dragged the total of active Covid-19 cases down to 7,083.

The drop in the active number of patients was for the 83rd consecutive day since Vijaya Dashami last year.

In these 83 days since the end of Durga Puja on October 26, the total of active cases has fallen by over 30,000, from 37,190 reported then. The total of active cases is now back almost to where it was 195 days ago, on July 6 last year.

“That, simply put, is damage of six months undone in about 12 weeks,” said a minister.

“A look at the hospitalisation (of Covid-19 patients) on October 26 and today is enough evidence of the kind of improvement there has been, overall,” he added, referring to the 36.83 per cent occupancy (on 12,751 Covid-19 beds) on Dashami and 7.39 per cent (on 12,440 dedicated beds) on Sunday.

The 200 state-run safe homes had, with 11,507 beds between them, had 1,012 people on October 26. On Sunday, there were 50 patients at the safe homes.

The recovery rate has risen for 87 consecutive days, from 87.44, to 96.97 per cent, leading the national rate by 0.4 per cent.

In the 83-day turnaround, the state reported over 2.38 lakh recoveries, outweighing the 2.11 lakh new infections found during the same period.

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 showed that the court’s instructions were effective.

A similar set of instructions came from the high court to ensure the outbreak did not worsen over the New Year celebrations.

“Sunday was Day 10 for someone who got infected on January 8…. It can be conclusively said now that we managed to observe the Christmas-New Year phase without worsening the outbreak, much like Durga Puja, Kali Puja and other festivals prior to it,” said a minister. It is between days six and 10 of the infection that most cases get detected.

The state’s positive confirmation rate is 7.39 per cent now, having improved steadily from 8.27 per cent 58 days ago.

Bengal’s total number of swab samples examined so far are over 76.47 lakh, which include 26,231 tests logged on Sunday. Tests per million people are 84,971.

The overall total of 5.65 lakh cases include nearly 5.48 lakh recoveries and 10,053 deaths. The dozen deaths reported on Sunday included two recorded in the city.

“Even till a few weeks ago, the state was reporting 60-odd deaths daily, with 20-plus from Calcutta alone. Look at where we are now,” said the minister.

The state attributed 8,435 (83.9 per cent) of the total deaths to comorbidities. Bengal’s mortality rate is now 1.77 per cent, compared to 1.44 per cent at the national level.