More than 55 per cent of people found infected by the Covid-19 virus in Jharkhand in the month of February were residents of Ranchi, a trend that has swung the Government into action to check the spread of the virus in the State capital, health officials said on Saturday.
As per figures compiled by the National Health Mission (NHM), as many as 1,171 people were infected by the mysterious virus in Jharkhand from February 1 to February 27, and at least 647 of them were residents of the state capital.
Ranchi not only accounts for the highest number of total Covid-19 cases reported so far in Jharkhand, but is also the only district with nearly 300 active cases while all the remaining 23 districts have a double-digit count of active cases, reveals government data.
A bulletin released by the NHM on Saturday morning stated that Ranchi accounted for as many as 277 of the 492 active cases of infection in the state. Also, the trajectory of active cases of infection in the district has seen an upward trend after a drop in cases in the first week of February.
As per data compiled by the NHM, there were only 198 Covid patients in Ranchi on February 6. Government figures highlight that the number of active cases here jumped to 277 in the past 20 days – a cause for concern for the health machinery and the district administration.
In the wake of the rise in the number of cases in Ranchi, the district administration has intensified vigil at the airport and railway stations. Besides, the district administration has set up at least 17 new testing centres across Ranchi to ensure that more people are tested and cases of Covid infection don’t go undetected.
On Friday, the Government tested swab samples of 948 people in Ranchi and 34 of them were found infected by Covid-19 virus. East Singhbhum also reported 20 cases, but none of the remaining 22 districts reported a double-digit-spike.
The cumulative tests per million was also lower in Ranchi in comparison to several other districts that have not even reported half as many cases as the state capital. As per government data, the Tests Per Million (TPM) in Ranchi was 1,48,092 by Saturday. The TPM in Deoghar was 1,50,918 and that in Pakur was 1,66,676. Besides, Lohardaga, Latehar, Koderma and even Khunti had higher TPM than Ranchi, indicating that the virus was spreading faster in the state capital.
