The Covid toll in Jharkhand drew closer to 3500 on Thursday, while the active caseload crossed the 60,000-figure mark as the state reported 133 casualties and close to 7000 fresh cases in the past 24 hours, figures compiled by the National Health Mission (NHM) revealed.

As many as 6974 Jharkhand residents, including 1235 from Ranchi and 1010 from East Singhbhum, tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday, taking the Covid tally in the state above 2.7 lakh, a bulletin released by the NHM highlighted. As per the bulletin, the state also reported 5740 Covid recoveries on the day and East Singhbhum as well as Ranchi accounted for more than 1000 recoveries each.

The two districts also accounted for almost 50 per cent of the Covid fatalities reported on the day in Jharkhand. As per NHM data, Ranchi reported 42 Covid deaths while East Singhbhum reported 23 in the past 24 hours. Thursday’s findings took the Covid toll in Ranchi to 1093 and that in East Singhbhum to 749, the NHM bulletin stated. Among other districts, Ramgarh reported 11 deaths and Giridih reported 10, taking the Covid toll in the state to 3479.

As per NHM data, Bokaro reported 333 cases against 269 recoveries on the day, while Hazaribag reported 479 cases against 411 Covid recoveries. West Singhbhum reported 321 cases, while as many as 326 people were found infected in Koderma and 330 in Palamu.

However, Ranchi and East Singhbhum jointly accounted for more than 40 per cent of the active cases in the state. As per government data, at least 19,810 Ranchi residents were battling the viral infection by the end of Thursday, while 5,743 people were infected in East Singhbhum. In active caseload in Jharkhand was 60,633 by the end of Thursday.

The positivity rate, however, dropped in Jharkhand on Thursday. The state tested swab samples of 88,695 residents on the day and around 8 per cent of them were found infected. The daily positivity rate in the state has been higher than 10 per cent in the past couple of weeks.

The growth rate of infection in Jharkhand was 2.11 per cent against the national average of 1.37 per cent, while the doubling rate in the state was 33.24 days against the national average of 50.95 days. The mortality rate in the state was 1.28 per cent, which is higher than the national Covid mortality rate of 1.10 per cent.

Jharkhand on Thursday administered the first dose of vaccine against Covid-19 t0 7,569 residents, while the second jab was administered to more than 13000 beneficiaries, a separate report from the NHM stated.