Number of active cases of the Covid-19 infection in Jharkhand drew close to 15,500 on Thursday despite higher count of recoveries than fresh cases reported in 24 hours, figures with the health department stated.

As per a bulletin released by the National Health Mission (NHM) on Thursday night, as many as 1152 people were found Covid-positive in the state, taking the tally to 58,097. Meanwhile, 1244 Covid patients recovered from the viral infection and were subsequently discharged from hospitals.

Ranchi, the worst-affected district in Jharkhand in terms of Covid cases, reported 382 cases of infection on Thursday, the highest among all the 24 districts in Jharkhand. The number of active cases of infection in the district was 3,811 by Thursday midnight despite 115 patients recovering from the viral infection in 24 hours, government data stated.

Meanwhile, the Covid mortality rate in Jharkhand dropped to 0.89 per cent but the virtue of only two casualties on Thursday, the lowest in a day this month. Both the Covid victims, as per government data, were from East Singhbhum, a district that accounts for nearly 50 per cent of state’s Covid casualties. Out of the 517 Covid deaths in Jharkhand, 234 were from East Singhbhum, figures with the state health department state.

The Covid tally in East Singhbhum inched towards 10,000 on Thursday, while the tally in Ranchi drew close to 12,000. Each of the remaining 22 districts in Jharkhand have reported fewer cases than 5000 so far, which is less than half of the tally in Ranchi, government data highlights. Except East Singhbhum and Ranchi, no other district reported cases in triple digits on Thursday.

The government on Thursday collected swab samples of 18,861 people and tested 18,975 of them. Health workers have collected swab samples of 13.12 lakh people in the state so far and tested 12.99 lakh of them. Of the 13 lakh-odd people that have been tested for the virus, nearly 60,000 were found infected.

As per figures with the health department, Jharkhand’s Covid recovery rate reached 72.51 per cent on Thursday, which is lower than the national average of 77.32 per cent. As per government records, at least 42,115 of the 58,079 Covid patients in Jharkhand have recovered from the infection.