The Covid death toll in Jharkhand reached 23 on Thursday after a Deoghar resident died during treatment at Medanta Hospital in Ranchi, health officials said.
Besides, a former legislator from Hussainabad, Shivpujan Mehta, was reportedly among the 75 people who tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday, sources said. However, there was no official confirmation on his Covid test results by the time this report was filed.
One State Minister, an MLA, several policemen and journalists have tested positive for Novel Coronavirus in the State this year. In wake of the recent test results, Chief Minister Hemant Soren quarantined himself at home on Wednesday.
As many as 40 patients recovered from Covid infection on Thursday, taking the number of recoveries in State to 2210, a bulletin released by the National Health Mission (NHM) stated. The total count of Covid cases in Jharkhand reached 3268 on Thursday, the bulletin further said.
Out of the 75 fresh cases reported on Thursday, at least 14 were from Ranchi and 13 from Koderma, the bulletin stated. Of the 40 patients who recovered, at least 12 were from Dhanbad, it highlighted.
As many as 2,168 migrants have tested positive for Covid-19 in the State since May 5. However, the number of non-migrants testing positive for Coronavirus has been on the rise, health officials said.
The Government has so far collected samples of 1.72 lakh suspects and tested 1.67 lakh of them. According to NHM, the number of active cases in Jharkhand stood at 1,035 on Thursday.
The recovery rate in the State has dropped to 67.64 per cent against the national average of 62.08 per cent. The Covid mortality rate in Jharkhand is 0.70 per cent, which is lower than the national mortality rate of 2.75 per cent, the NHM bulletin stated.
Jharkhand witnessed a sudden spike in cases of Covid-19 infection in the past couple of days. State water resources minister Mithilesh Thakur and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) legislator Mathura Mahto tested positive for the virus on Tuesday and are undergoing treatment at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS).
The first Covid-19 case of State was reported from Hindpiri on March 31. A Malaysian woman, who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in New Delhi, became the first Covid patient here. Soon, a flurry of cases in Hindpiri haunted the Government, and the locality was sealed. However, the cases have now reduced considerably in the locality and it is not a containment zone anymore, officials said.
A second wave of Covid-19 cases hit Jharkhand with the return of migrant workers. At least five lakh migrants returned to the state since the imposition of lockdown, and more than 2000 of them tested positive for Covid-19, officials said.