The Covid-19 toll in Jharkhand jumped to 700 on Tuesday after a dozen people died of the viral infection in a span of 24 hours, data released by the State health department stated.

As many as five of the 12 Covid casualties on Tuesday occurred in Ranchi, the district which has reported the highest number of Covid cases so far in Jharkhand. As per Government data, East Singhbhum reported three deaths, which took the number of Covid casualties in the district alone to 298.

As per Government data, at least 112 Covid patients have died in Ranchi so far, which means Ranchi and East Singhbhum together account more than 60 per cent of Covid fatalities in Jharkhand. Ramgarh and Dhanbad reported one death each, while two Covid patients breathed their last in Bokaro on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, as many as 1,123 people tested positive for Covid-19 virus on the day, taking the Covid tally in Jharkhand to 82,540, stated a bulletin released by the National Health Mission (NHM). As per the bulletin, at least 1,295 Covid patients recovered from the infection on the day, taking Jharkhand’s Covid recovery rate further up at 84.67 per cent.

Out of the 82,000-odd people infected by the virus in Jharkhand so far, as many as 69,898 have recovered, highlights Government data. As per figures with the health department, there were 11,942 active cases of Covid-19 infection in Jharkhand on Tuesday night.

The number of active cases dropped in Ranchi after 517 Covid patients recovered from the infection in the district against 319 fresh cases. However, the count of active cases increased in East Singhbhum where 209 people were found infected while 93 patients recovered in 24 hours.

The Government has so far collected swab samples of 22.22 lakh people across Jharkhand and tested 22.13 lakh of them. On Tuesday, health workers tested swab samples of 39,124 people and 38,001 of them were found to be Covid negative.

As per data compiled by the NHM, of the 700 Covid victims in Jharkhand, as many as 518 were older than 50 years. As many as 139 Covid victims were in the age bracket of 31 years to 50 years, while 31 victims were below the age of 30 years.

Jharkhand’s Covid mortality rate, as per NHM data, was 0.84 per cent against the national average of 1.60 per cent. The doubling rate of Covid-19 infection in Jharkhand was 44.24 days. The national Covid-19 doubling rate was 48.94 days.