At least nine fresh cases of COVID-19 were reported in Jharkhand on Thursday, and one of them –a septuagenarian man from Bokaro– died, health officials said. The State on Thursday witnessed the highest surge in the number of cases in a day since the first case was reported from Ranchi on March 31, they added.
Out of the nine fresh cases, five were reported from the State capital's Hindpiri locality –a closely-packed compound that has turned into a hotspot of coronavirus in the Capital, said health officials. All of the five new patients came in direct contact with a 54-year-old woman, who tested COVID-19 positive earlier this week, officials said.
"Test results of nine suspects came out positive today (Thursday). Five of them are from Hindpiri in Ranchi," said Health Secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni. "A 75-year-old man from Bokaro, who tested positive, died this morning," he added.
Kulkarni, however, said that the deceased had a history of cardiac problems and was also asthmatic. He got admitted in Bokaro Hospital for cardiac issues and was tested for COVID-19 as a part of the Standard Operating Procedure. "It is difficult to ascertain how he may have contracted the virus. He has no recent travel history," Kulkarni said.
According to a report released by National Health Mission (NHM), only three of 24 districts in Jharkhand have been affected by Coronavirus so far. There are as many as 12 active cases of coronavirus in Jharkhand, and seven of them are from Ranchi, four from Bokaro and one from Hazaribag, the report said.
While the number of cases has tripled in a day here, none of the patients have recovered from the disease. All of them are undergoing treatment at Government Hospitals. A 22-year-old Malaysian woman, who attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in New Delhi, was the first suspect to test positive in Jharkhand. She was apprehended along with 17 other foreign nationals from a Mosque in Hindpiri last month. Since then, cases of coronavirus in Ranchi have only been reported from Hindpiri.
The Government has sealed the locality in order to prevent the spread of the virus in other parts of the city, and several hundred families living in the locality are being screened for symptoms every day. Meanwhile, the Bokaro locality where the 75-year-old deceased lived has been sealed since his death.
Positive cases have been reported from Dalal tola Mohalla in Gomia block. The area turned into a fortress on Thursday with security personnel maintaining a vigil on all the entry and exit points.
The residents of Gomia and Tenughat have also locked themselves at home. Suspects are being continuously screened here.
The entire area was sanitised on Thursday. All the three fresh cases from the district, including two children, were admitted in the isolation ward of Bokaro General Hospital.