Fresh cases of Covid-19 infection hit a new high in Jharkhand on Wednesday as almost 1000 people tested positive for the virus – the highest spike reported in a day so far, government data revealed.

Ranchi, which continues to be the worst-affected district in state, reported the highest number of fresh Covid cases among the 24 districts in Jharkhand on Wednesday. With 141 fresh cases, the Covid tally in Ranchi reached 2583, a bulletin released by National Health Mission (NHM) on Wednesday late evening stated.

With as many as 978 cases surfacing on Wednesday, Jharkhand's Covid tally crossed the 15,000 mark, while the number of active cases inched towards 10,000. As per the NHM bulletin, there were 9086 active cases in Jharkhand by Wednesday evening and 5826 patients had recovered from the infection.

East Singhbhum reported 72 fresh cases on Wednesday, taking the number of Covid cases in district to 2420. While Ranchi and East Singhbhum are the only two districts where Covid cases have crossed the 2000 mark, some districts, where fewer cases were reported so far, have started seeing an upward trend in the Covid trajectory, health officials said.

Godda, which had only 183 active cases by Tuesday, reported 339 fresh positive cases on Wednesday. Health officials, however, attributed the unprecedented rise in cases to intensified testings.

The Covid toll in Jharkhand jumped to 136 on Wednesday as seven patients, including three from Ranchi, died during treatment, government data stated. Jharkhand's Covid mortality rate, however, was 0.90 per cent, which is lower than the national average of 2.11 per cent.

As many as 584 Covid patients recovered from the infection on Wednesday, but state's recovery rate dropped to 38.71 per cent, the NHM bulletin said. The national Covid recovery rate was 65.73 per cent on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad was shifted to the director's bungalow at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) on Wednesday in order to provide space to Covid patients in the paying ward, where Prasad was admitted so far.  The government has so far collected swab samples of 3.64 lakh people and tested 3.51 lakh of them. Around 2.4 lakh people have been put in home quarantine in State, while nearly 6000 have been sent to institutional quarantine.