Bengal logs 289 more Covid-19 cases - recovery rate 97.2 per cent - 367 recoveries, 289 infections and 9 deaths

The recovery rate rose for 97 consecutive days to touch 97.2 per cent, having improved by 10 per cent

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Meghdeep Bhattacharyya   |   TT   |   Calcutta   |    29.01.21 : Bengal on Thursday reported a drop in total active Covid-19 cases for the 94th consecutive day since Vijaya Dashami on October 26 last year with an improvement by nearly 84.5 per cent.

The total active cases fell over these 94 days from a high of 37,190 to 5,781. The total is now back almost to where it was on June 30 last year, 212 days ago. On Thursday, the state logged 367 recoveries, 289 infections and nine deaths, including one in Calcutta.

The recovery rate rose for 97 consecutive days to touch 97.2 per cent, having improved by 10 per cent. The national recovery rate is 96.92 now.

“On Dashami, Calcutta and North 24-Parganas had nearly 15,000 active cases between them. On Thursday, that number has come down to less than 2,700. On Dashami, those two most high-incidence districts had 1.3 lakh recoveries between them. On Thursday, that total is 2.41 lakh,” said a Bengal minister.

Since Dashami last year, the state recorded over 2.43 lakh recoveries, outweighing 2.15 lakh infections detected during the same period.

“The turnaround throughout the state was possible largely because of the vast improvement made in these two districts.

Calcutta High Court had intervened to prevent the worsening of the pandemic over Durga Puja, Kali Puja, Diwali and Chhath. A similar set of instructions came from the high court to ensure that the outbreak did not worsen during New Year celebrations. The numbers of infections from the festivals between October and January showed that the court’s instructions were effective.

The state’s positive confirmation rate is 7.19 per cent now, having improved steadily from 8.27 per cent 69 days ago.

On Thursday, the state reported 25,129 tests, taking the total past 79.19 lakh, at 87,996 tests per million people.

The state attributed 8,521 of the 10,148 deaths — 84 per cent — to comorbidities.

Bengal’s mortality rate remained 1.78, while the national rate also was unchanged at 1.43 per cent.