Passengers coming from "high-positivity" states like Maharashtra and Kerala will have to either undergo a mandatory Covid-19 test or be asked to produce a report of a Covid test conducted through RT PCR within 72 hours of entering Jharkhand, state health secretary K..K Soan has said.

While all passengers travelling to Jharkhand from these states by air will have to be either tested on the spot or produce a Covid test report, those travelling by bus or train may be “appropriately stamped and subjected to Covid-19 testing by the concerned district surveillance unit,” Soan further specified in aletter addressed to the state disaster management department on Wednesday.

The health secretary's letter comes in the wake of a sudden spike in Covid-19 cases across the country with Jharkhand being no exception.

On Wednesday, the state reported 196 Covid-19 cases, the highest single-day-spike since February taking the count of active cases to 969, a bulletin released by the National Health Mission (NHM) stated. Jharkhand also reported two Covid casualties on the day, one each from Ranchi and Deoghar, taking the Covid toll in the state to 1100.

Ranchi alone reported 93 cases against 45 recoveries on the day, taking the count of active cases here to 452. As many as 77 Covid patients recovered across Jharkhand on the day.

As per government data, more than 1.21 lakh people have been infected by the coronavirus in Jharkhand so far and over 98 per cent of them have recovered. The growth rate in the state was 0.09 per cent against the national average of 0.27 per cent, while the doubling rate in Jharkhand was 790 days against the national average of over 256 days.

As many as 1,06,958 Jharkhand residents, including 79,822 senior citizens and 24,562 middle-agers with comorbid conditions, were administered the first dose of Covishield vaccine on Wednesday, taking the total count of people vaccinated against the virus to 12,28,408, a report from the NHM stated.

The state on Wednesday administered the second dose of the vaccine to as many as 4,477 people, hardly 7 per cent of the nearly 70,000 registered beneficiaries. So far, as many as 2,33,843 beneficiaries have been administered both the vaccine doses in Jharkhand, highlights government data.

Jharkhand has achieved 83 per cent of its target for administering the first dose of the vaccine and 79 per cent for the second dose. Ranchi is the only district where more than 1 lakh residents have been inoculated, reveals government data.