Ranchi accounted for 13 of 19 Covid casualties reported in Jharkhand on Sunday, which took the Covid toll in the State closer to the 5000-mark and that in Ranchi to 1552, figures compiled by the National Health Mission (NHM) highlighted.

However, the decline in the active caseload continued on Sunday as the State reported at least 1724 Covid recoveries against 703 fresh cases of infection. As per a bulletin released by the NHM, the active caseload dropped to 9906 in Jharkhand on Sunday.

With 96 fresh cases, East Singhbhum accounted for the highest number of cases among Jharkhand districts on the day. The active caseload in the district, however, dropped to 446 as at least 380 Covid patients recovered from the infection there. As many as two patients died in the districts on Sunday, taking the toll there to 999.

As per NHM data, Ranchi reported 72 cases against 268 recoveries and the active caseload here dropped to 2,691 on Sunday. Health officials said that a higher number of casualties were reported in Ranchi as many critical patients were referred to hospitals here from different parts of the state and some of them could not survive.

Hazaribag was the only district to report a triple-digit-spike in cases on the day. The district reported 105 cases of infection against 93 recoveries and saw a rise in the active caseload there to 469, the NHM stated in its bulletin. Barring Ranchi, East Singhbhum and Hazaribag, all the remaining 21 districts reported a spike of less than 50 in the Covid caseload.

The government on Sunday tested swab samples of 44,553 residents and close to 2 per cent of them were found infected. So far, the state has tested 84.34 lakh people for Covid-19 and 3.36 lakh of them were found infected by the virus. Over 95.58 per cent of these patients have recovered so far, highlights government data.

The growth rate of infection in Jharkhand also dropped to 0.22 per cent against the national average of 0.49 per cent on Sunday, while the doubling rate rose to 316.12 days against the national average of 140.64 days. The Covid mortality rate in the state, however, was 1.47 per cent, which is higher than the national average of 1.20 per cent.

Jharkhand on Sunday administered the first dose of vaccine against Covid-19 to 23958 residents and more than 16500 of them were in the age bracket of 18 to 44 years. As many as 3664 residents received the second jab on the day.