Jharkhand on Monday administered the first dose of vaccine against Covid-19 to at least 43,888 residents, while the second dose was administered to 21,652 beneficiaries, data released by the National Health Mission (NHM) highlighted. At least 45,000 residents who got the jabs on the day were below the age of 45 years, a provisional report from NHM stated.
It also distributed at least 60,000 Covaxin doses among the 24 districts on Monday. As per vaccine allotment figures of the health department, Ranchi received the highest share of 5000 vaccines, while 4000 doses were sent to East Singhbhum as well as Dumka. Palamu received 3900 doses of Covaxin, while 3200 doses were sent to Dhanbad.
Covaxin has fast become the desired vaccine against Covid-19 for residents, primarily due to the shorter gap between the two doses as compared to Covishield. However, its limited supply has not only left the beneficiaries of second dose waiting, but also forced many first dose beneficiaries to delay their jab, officials said. The fresh allotment on Monday may help ease the pressure.
The state, as per data shared by the health department on Monday evening, has received over 1 crore doses of vaccines from the Centre and utilized 97,22,066 of them. The state had about 4.4 lakh doses of vaccines in stock to continue the immunisation drive until fresh supplies arrive from the Centre.
Meanwhile, Covid cases continued to drop in the state on Monday. As per a bulletin released by the NHM, Jharkhand on Monday reported 23 fresh cases of infection against 38 Covid recoveries, which brought the active caseload down to 239 in the state.
While none of the 24 districts reported a double-digit-spike, Bokaro, Lohardaga and Deoghar reported four cases each – the highest among the districts. At least five Covid recoveries against three cases brought the active caseload in Ranchi down to 46, while the active caseload in East Singhbhum dropped further down to 12 as the district reported zero cases against four recoveries, NHM data highlighted.
At least 16 Jharkhand districts did not report fresh cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection on the day. No casualties caused by the viral infection were reported in the state on Monday. So far, the deadly virus has claimed at least 5129 lives in the state.
The state on Monday tested swab samples of 41,744 residents and 0.05 per cent of them were found infected by coronavirus. Of the 3.47 lakh people infected by the virus in the state, at least 98.45 per cent patients have recovered, while 1.47 per cent of the patients could not survive.
Jharkhand did not report fresh cases of Covid-induced mucormycosis on the day, while the black fungus toll remained 31. So far, at least 104 confirmed and 58 suspected cases of the fungal infection have surfaced in Jharkhand. At least 108 patients have been discharged from hospitals after being treated for either suspected or confirmed mucormycosis.