As many as 738 fresh cases of Covid infection surfaced in Jharkhand on Saturday, taking the total count of active cases in State to 7477, government data stated. As per government figures, more than 1600 fresh cases of Covid infection have surfaced in Jharkhand in the past 48 hours.
Saturday's findings take the total count of Covid cases reported in Jharkhand till date to 12104 and Covid toll to 114, a bulletin released by the National Health Mission (NHM) said. At least four Covid patients, including two from Hazaribag, died on Saturday, the bulletin added.
The government launched a massive three-day Covid testing drive on Friday, in which it aims to conduct at least 1 lakh Covid tests and detect asymptomatic cases from every nook and corner of the state. However, in the first two days of the drive, the health department managed to conduct only 20,686 tests, which means that the state has achieved only 20 per cent of its target. With only one day left, achieving the target of conducting 1 lakh tests seems unlikely, sources said.
Meanwhile, at least 170 patients recovered from the infection on Saturday, taking the count of recoveries in State to 4513, the NHM bulletin stated. The Covid recovery rate in Jharkhand, however, stood at 37.28 per cent on Saturday, much lower than the national average of 64.43 per cent.
Interestingly, Jharkhand had the fourth highest recovery rate in India in June.
Though the count of Covid casualties reached 114 on Saturday, the Covid mortality rate in Jharkhand dropped to 0.94 per cent, NHM bulletin highlighted. Most of the Covid victims in State, officials said, had comorbid conditions. However, some of the Covid victims in State were in their early twenties, officials said.
The Government has so far collected samples of 3.2 lakh people for Covid tests and tested around 3 lakh of them. Around 2.4 lakh people have been put in home quarantine across Jharkhand and nearly 6000 have been sent to institutional quarantine.