Jharkhand continued to record a steady drop in the number of fresh cases of Covid-19 on Friday and the number of casualties also dipped in comparison to the past couple of days.

The state reported at least 7112 Covid recoveries against 3776 fresh cases on Friday, which brought the active caseload down to 45,056, a bulletin released by the National Health Mission (NHM) stated. The active caseload has dropped from over 60,000 to 45,056 in the past fortnight.

As per NHM data, at least 76 Covid patients, including 28 from Ranchi and eight from Bokaro, died during treatment on the day, taking the Covid toll in the state up at 4,366. East Singhbhum also reported seven Covid fatalities on Friday. Jharkhand has a Covid mortality rate of 1.40 per cent, which is higher than the national average of 1.10 per cent.

The active caseload also dropped significantly in Ranchi and East Singhbhum, two of the worst-affected districts in terms of caseload and fatalities. At least 2,267 Covid patients recovered in Ranchi on Friday against 494 fresh cases, bringing the active caseload here down to 11,918. However, the 28 casualties on Friday took the Covid toll in Ranchi to 1374.

East Singhbhum reported 968 Covid recoveries against 957 fresh cases on the day and the active caseload there dropped to 4,463. The seven deaths reported in the district on the day took the Covid toll there to 882.

Ranchi and East Singhbhum jointly account for almost 50 per cent of the active cases in Jharkhand, highlights government data. East Singhbhum reported the highest spike in Covid cases on the day among Jharkhand districts. At least 957 people were found infected in Palamu on Friday while 968 patients recovered there. Bokaro reported 162 Covid cases against 328 recoveries, while Dhanbad reported 143 cases against 155 recoveries.

Jharkhand on Friday tested swab samples of 49,596 residents and less than 8 per cent of them were found infected. As per government data, over 3.1 lakh state residents have been infected by the mysterious virus so far and nearly 84 per cent of them have recovered.

The growth rate of Covid cases in Jharkhand was 1.35 per cent against the national average of 1.09 per cent, while the doubling rate in the state was 51.54 days against the national average of 64.20 days, highlighted the NHM bulletin. The doubling rate in the state had gone down to 25 days in the last week of April.

Meanwhile, the state administered the first dose of vaccine against Covid-19 to 45493 residents on the day, while the second jab was administered to more than 9,000 beneficiaries, stated a report from NHM.