Seventeen patients were on Friday discharged from Covid-19 care wards in Koderma.

Civil surgeon Abhay Bhushan Prasad underscored the significance of the day which saw 17 recoveries.

Doctors, nurses and other paramedical staffers showered flower petals and clapped for all the 17 patients.

Prasad said Covid-19 can be defeated with the co-operation of the people.

A doctor presents a flower to a woman who recovered from Covid-19 and was discharged in Koderma district on Friday. Vishvendu Jaipuriar

Covid testing drive on August 16-17

Dhanbad deputy commissioner Uma Shankar Singh on Friday met officials to assess preparations for the Covid-19 rapid antibody testing (RAT) drive scheduled for August16-17. The drive is being conducted as per a state government directive. Altogether 10,000 people will be tested.

The testing of CISF, CRPF, JAP-3 and RPF personnel, besides employees of HURL, ACC, DVC, MPL and the railways, will also be conducted. Special camps will also be organised at Dhanbad, Jharia, Baghmara and Govindpur block.

Singh added that a training of lab technicians for sample collection will be conducted on Saturday by five master trainers.

New ICU at Chatra sadar hospital

Chatra deputy commissioner Divyanshu Jha on Friday said work was on to set up a 10-bed ICU with ventilators at the sadar hospital’s burns unit even as the number of Covid-19 patients kept increasing in the district.

Jha also spoke of a plan to establish a 500-bed Covid-19 care centre at the polytechnic college in Chatra town.

“We had sent two doctors for training to Ranchi so that they can manage the ICU,” he added. Currently, a 150-bed Covid-19 care centre is already functional at the newly constructed subdivisonal office.

Jha said there is a proposal to start three new Covid-19 care centres in the district, including one at Simaria subdivisional office with 90 beds and a community health centre in Itkhori with 100 beds. The third and the biggest will be set up at the ITI college with 500 beds, Jha said.

The Covid-19 care centre at the subdivisional office in Chatra. Vishvendu Jaipuriar

Covid hits sweet business in Daltonganj hard

The novel coronavirus seems to have smothered the sweet business in Daltonganj.

Every Independence Day, sweet sellers would have bumper business selling to schools, colleges, institutions, government offices, NGOs, etc. Schoolchildren, teachers and officials would line up at sweet shops. However, this year, none of it can be seen.

Basant Halwai, who has two sweet shops in Daltonganj, said: “The coronavirus has devastated our sweet business.”

“Last year on Independence Day, I had orders for 50-60kg laddoo and 1,000 pieces of syrup-based sweets,” he added. “DAV School, Daltonganj, used to buy from us two quintal of sweets but this time we do not have any such order.”

He said: “This time I have an order for only 200kg laddoo. No one is ready to buy syrup-based sweets because of the coronavirus.”

Sudhir Shoundik, another sweet shop owner, said: “I have no order except for a few kilograms of laddoo. It is a real hard time.”

Chandra Bhushan Sinha, principal of Holy Cross School, Daltonganj, said: “This year, only teachers and non-teaching staff are to attend the I-Day function. We will distribute small packets of sweets and snacks only among the attendees.”

An empty sweet shop on the eve of Independence Day Telegraph picture

Hospital protest

Microbiologists and lab technicians at Patliputra Medical College and Hospital, Dhanbad, on Friday abstained from work for some time to protest the selection of only five among them for felicitation as “Corona Warriors” during the Independence Day celebrations organised by the district administration at Golf Ground.

The protesters accused the hospital authorities of bias while choosing names for the awards. Only five microbiologists and lab technicians were chosen for felicitation.

The protesting employees relented and returned to work after the operator of the hospital’s manpower agency, Sujit Kumar, held talks with them.

The Dhanbad district administration had on Thursday announced that it would felicitate 22 frontline Corona Warriors, as well as three Covid-19 patients who recovered.

Fine for selling pan masala

A team of Bokaro administration officials on Friday slapped fines on 14 shops for selling tobacco-based pan masala. The shops are in Sector 2 Nayamod and Ram Mandir Market area. Each shop was fined Rs 2,250.

The sale of 11 tobacco-based pan masala brands is banned. Yet, shops were found selling them, said Rajesh Singh, deputy commissioner, Bokaro.

The nodal officer of the district tobacco control programme, Dr N.P. Singh, said that despite the ban, some shopkeepers were buying pan masala from the Bengal border and selling it.