Jharkhand again witnessed an unprecedented surge in cases of COVID-19 infection on Saturday as 41 suspects tested positive for the viral infection in 24 hours, officials from the health department said. Besides, East Singhbhum –a district which had not reported even a single case of COVID-19 infection until May – reported 26 new cases on Saturday, officials added.

"Most of the suspects who tested positive are migrant workers," said Health Secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni.  At least 45 new cases were reported on Friday, the highest in a day, he added. With Saturday's findings, the number of new cases reported in Jharkhand in the past 48 hours goes up to 86.

According to a daily COVID-19 bulletin released by the National Health Mission (NHM), the total count of COVID-19 cases crossed the 550 mark in Jharkhand on Saturday. At least 563 cases were reported in the State by the time this report was filed on Saturday. Our of the 563 cases, at least 355 are migrant workers, the NHM bulletin said.

While 41 new cases surfacing on Saturday is worrisome for the Government, it is worth noticing that around the same number of patients also recovered from the viral infection on the same day, officials said. According to the NHM bulletin, at least 40 COVID-19 patients won their battle against the virus on Saturday and were discharged from hospital. Besides East Singhbhum, cases were reported from Hazaribag, Simdega, Garhwa, Gumla, Palamu and Khunti.

According to figures with the NHM, at least 216 COVID-19 patients have recovered in Jharkhand so far. There are more than 300 active cases in State as reported on Saturday late evening.

More than half of the 563 odd people infected by COVID-19 virus so far in Jharkhand are in the age bracket of 11 to 30 years – a trend that highlights how young people were as prone to the virus as their older counterparts, health officials said. Out of the 563 cases, 316 are in the age bracket of 11 to 30 years and 191 in rhe age bracket of 31 to 50 years, the NHM report

 said.

According to NHM, more than 65 per cent of the COVID-19 cases reported in Jharkhand are from Jharkhand. At least 355 migrant workers have tested positive in Jharkhand since May 5, the NHM bulletin said.

The Government has so far collected samples of 76,100 COVID-19 suspects from across the State, and more than 560 of them have tested positive. At least 62,916 of the 76,000 odd samples collected have been tested so far, the NHM report said.