Hindpiri, Ranchi's largest containment zone, which became the hotspot of COVID-19 in the capital, has only one active case of the viral infection now, Sub-divisional Officer (SDO) Lokesh Mishra said on Saturday. Various agencies are surveying the locality to see if the area of containment can be reduced, he added.
"Around 3000 households may fall out of the containment zone after the survey," said Mishra. "We are surveying the area and screening people for COVID-19 symptoms. The process should be complete in two days," he added.
Lokesh said that the district administration may also allow over-the-counter sale of sweets in the city. However, restaurants will only be allowed to provide home delivery, he added. "Sweet shops will be allowed to sell products online as well as over-the-counter. But restaurants will only be allowed to provide home delivery," said Mishra.
Also, Ranchi is now a COVID-19 orange zone, Deputy Commissioner Rai Mahimapat Ray said on Saturday. Out of the 15 active cases in the district, at least 10 are migrant workers who returned home from other Coronavirus-affected States, Ray added. "At least 112 cases of COVID-19 infection have been reported in the district so far, and 95 of these patients have recovered," he further said.
Ranchi was declared a COVID-19 red zone last month by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in the wake of the rapidly rising count of infected people here. With Ranchi losing the red zone tag, Jharkhand now has 21 orange zones and three green zones, said health officials. The district will become a COVID-19 green zone if no fresh cases of the viral infection are reported in the next 21 days, they added. Ranchi was the only COVID-19 red zone in Jharkhand so far.
At least four more COVID-19 patients recovered in Ranchi on Saturday, said Ray. Ranchi has shown the fastest recovery rate of patients in Jharkhand despite having to face an unprecedented surge in cases last month and being home to Hindpiri – the only large containment zone in the State.
The doubling rate of COVID-19 infection has also gone up in Ranchi from 3.5 a few days ago to 57.92, said the Deputy Commissioner. Doubling rate, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), is the time taken for the the number of cases to double. This means that earlier the number of COVID-19 cases doubled here in 3.5 days, and now the count doubles in 57.92 days, officials said.
The COVID-19 testing rate in Ranchi is also higher than rest of the country, said Ray. The rate of testing in India is 205 per 1 lakh population, whereas in Ranchi it is 285 per 1 lakh population, he said. More than 10,000 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Ranchi so far, and the case positivity rate here is 1.8 per cent, added Ray.
The first case of COVID-19 in Jharkhand was reported from Hindpiri in Ranchi on March 31. Since then, the locality emerged as a hotspot of the viral infection, officials said. A 22-year-old Malaysian woman, who attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in New Delhi, is said to be the first carrier of the virus in the district. She was apprehended along with 17 other foreign nationals from Hindpiri in March. Two of them –the Malaysian woman and a man from Trinidad– tested positive, health officials said. Later, the woman tested negative, they added.