East Singhbhum recorded 130 new Covid-19 cases, including 12 in Ghaghidih Central Jail, during the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases to 4,780 in the district.

Of the 12 who tested positive in the jail, three are prisoners. The rest are guards and administrative staff of the jail. The three prisoners who tested positive are among five who have served 20 years in jail and were about to be released as per a decision by a prisoners’ review committee.

Ghaghidih jail superintendent Narendra Kumar Singh said they have now decided to get all prisoners tested.

"There are about 300 guards and administrative staff in the jail. As there was no coronavirus positive case among prisoners in the jail, we started testing jail guards, administrative staff and their families from Wednesday. From about 60 staffers, nine tested positive on Thursday,” he explained.

The jail superintendent said the prisoners who tested positive have been kept in isolation within the jail. The other two prisoners will be allowed to leave once their release orders are processed.

Singh said they had initially decided to test all staff members first. “But after three convicts tested positive, we have changed our decision. We will now ensue all prisoners, including undertrials, undergo Covid-19 tests from Sunday," the superintendent said.

As of now, Ghaghidih jail has 1,797 prisoners, including undertrials. Additionally, there are about 200 undertrials who are under quarantine at the Sakchi jail. They will move to Ghaghidih after their quarantine period ends.

According to sources in the district civil surgeon’s office, of the 130 new Covid positive cases, 26 are the Rapid Action Force jawans who were stationed at the CRPF's Sundernagar camp in the steel city. One person is a worker at Mathura Mishtanna Bhandar, the sweet shop at Kadma owned by the family of state health minister Banna Gupta.