The State Government on Wednesday slashed the price of Covid-19 tests conducted by private laboratories in Jharkhand, bringing the maximum price for an RT-PCR test down at Rs.800 and that for Rapid Antigen Test down to Rs.150, a notification issued by National Health Mission (NHM) stated.

As per the notification, the price of CBNAAT test was capped at Rs.2,200 while the price for TrueNat test was set at Rs.1,100. However, the standard price for Covid-19 test in the state will be Rs.800 as RT-PCR is the most commonly used process for Covid-19 tests in Jharkhand, health officials said.

The Covid-19 toll in the state jumped to 971 on the day, while the toll in Ranchi alone reached 197, highlighted a bulletin released by the NHM. However, the number of active cases dropped in Ranchi as the district reported 85 cases against 98 recoveries. As per government data, at least 709 people were battling the virus in Ranchi by Wednesday night.

The State on Wednesday reported at least 206 fresh cases of infection against 262 recoveries, data compiled by the health department stated. While the number of active cases of Covid-19 infection dropped in Jharkhand in the past 24 hours, the virus claimed at least two more lives, both in Ranchi, during the same period.

At least four Jharkhand districts did not report even a single case of Covid-19 infection on Wednesday, but Ranchi, East Singhbhum, Dhanbad and Bokaro reported a double-digit spike in cases. At least 20 cases surfaced in East Singhbhum against 18 recoveries, taking the active cases there up at 296. Dhanbad reported 18 cases against 20 recoveries, while Bokaro reported 11 cases against 20 recoveries.

As per government data, as many as 1907 people were battling the virus in Jharkhand on Wednesday night, and more than half of them were from Ranchi and East Singhbhum districts.

The growth rate of the virus in Jharkhand was 0.15 per cent against the national average of 0.35 per cent, highlights government data. The doubling rate of the virus in Jharkhand was 459.72 days against the national doubling rate of 196.72 days. The Covid recovery rate in the state was 97.37 per cent, while the Covid mortality rate in the state was 0.88 per cent.

The government on Wednesday tested swab samples of 21,114 people and less than 1 per cent of them were found infected.