The State Government halved the price of Covid-19 tests through RT-PCR at private facilities on Tuesday, bringing it down from Rs.800 per test to Rs.400 per test, Health Minister Banna Gupta said. On December 2, the Government had slashed the price for Covid test from Rs 1,050 to Rs 800 at private laboratories and diagnostics centres.
“The price for Covid-19 tests is monitored and revised regularly by the government in a bid to keep the price in Jharkhand at par with other states and make Covid tests at private clinics affordable,” Gupta said.
Meanwhile, at least 209 fresh cases of Covid-19 infection surfaced in the state on Tuesday. However, the number of active cases dropped to 1578 as at least 211 Covid patients recovered from the infection on the day, a bulletin released by the National Health Mission (NHM) highlighted.
Ranchi reported the highest number of fresh cases as well as the highest number of recoveries among all the 24 districts in Jharkhand on Tuesday. The district reported 98 cases of infection against 113 recoveries, and the number of active cases here dropped to 763, government data highlighted.
Ranchi also reported one Covid casualty on the day, taking the Covid-19 toll in the state up at 1001 and that in Ranchi to 207, the NHM stated in its bulletin. The Covid mortality rate in the State, however, was 0.89 per cent against the national average of 1.50 per cent, the bulletin further stated.
Among other districts, East Singhbhum reported 38 cases against 24 recoveries while Dhanbad reported 15 cases against 21 recoveries. At least 14 people were found infected in Bokaro while 10 patients recovered there on the day, the NHM bulletin revealed.
At least five districts did not report even a single case of Covid-19 infection on the day, while 14 districts reported a single-digit-spike in cases. With 763 active cases, Ranchi accounted for about half of the total active cases in Jharkhand by the end of Tuesday. Barring Ranchi and East Singhbhum, all the remaining 22 districts had fewer active cases than 100. At least 166 patients were battling the virus in East Singhbhum, highlights Government data.
As per Government data, the growth rate of Covid-19 virus in Jharkhand was 0.14 per cent against the national average of 0.25 per cent. The doubling rate of the virus in Jharkhand was 490.84 days against the national average of 279.17 days.
The Covid-19 recovery rate in the State was 97.69 per cent against the national average of 95.10 per cent.
The Government on Tuesday tested swab samples of 17261 people and more than 1 per cent of them were found infected. So far, health workers have collected swab samples of 45.44 lakh people and tested around 45.33 lakh of them. The number of swab samples pending for tests has dropped from 14,000 to 11,000, health officials said.