No fresh cases of COVID-19 were reported in Jharkhand in the past 48 hours – an indication that the virus was not spreading in the State as rapidly as in some other parts of the country, a report released by the National Health Mission (NHM) said on Wednesday.
By Wednesday, the Government collected samples of at least 1315 Coronavirus suspects, and 1099 of them tested negative. The last case of COVID-19 was reported here from Ranchi after a 54-year-old woman from Hindpiri tested positive.
However, while there has been no major surge in the number of cases reported, the fear of community transfer in Hindpiri locality is haunting health officials here. Sources from the health department said that the woman who tested positive on Monday has denied any direct contact with the Malaysian woman who was the first COVID-19 patient of Jharkhand.
"She has two sons who roam across the locality. Her husband moves out of home to sell vegetables every day. It is impossible to confirm from where she got the virus," said Health Secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni.
All the four patients in Jharkhand are undergoing treatment in isolation wards of Government hospitals here. However, none of them has recovered. Most of them, sources said, have fever, cough and some have complained of diarrhea. Out of the four cases, two are from Ranchi, and one each from Hazaribag and Bokaro. Out of the four patients, only two had travel history to foreign countries. One of the remaining two contracted the virus in West Bengal and the other got it through local transmission.
Despite a delayed entry in Jharkhand, the virus has already infected people living in rural areas – a cause for concern for the Government. The number of cases here quadrupled in a fortnight, and many people who might be infected have not even been tested, said a source from the health department.
Meanwhile, the Government is not only combating the virus, but also attempts by locals to keep their history of contact with patients a secret, a senior health official has said. Rumours about poor treatment meted out to suspects in Isolation Centres have made many locals resist screening and sample collection, he added. Rumours spread on social media have also added to the problems of the Government. Tension gripped parts of Gumla on Wednesday after a man was lynched and another beaten up on suspicion of spreading the virus.