At least 141 Jharkhand residents died of Covid-19 on Saturday, taking the Covid toll in the state to 3,756 and the mortality rate up at 1.33 per cent against the national average of 1.10 per cent, figures compiled by the National Health Mission (NHM) highlighted.

While the Covid mortality rate continued to rise on Saturday, the growth rate of infection witnessed a marginal dip as the difference between fresh cases and Covid recoveries narrowed. At least 6,112 people were found infected by Coronavirus on Saturday while 5,953 Covid patients recovered on the day. The state’s Covid growth rate of 2.07 per cent was, however, higher than the national average of 1.35 per cent.

Ranchi, the worst-affected district in terms of caseload and fatalities, witnessed a drop in active cases on Saturday as at least 1,033 patients recovered from the viral infection here against 836 fresh cases reported on the day. The district, however, reported 42 of the 141 deaths on the day – the highest among the 24 districts in Jharkhand. As per government data, the district had 19,713 active cases by Saturday night and the toll here had reached 1,173.

East Singhbhum, on the other hand, reported 1,025 cases against 911 recoveries. As many as 25 Covid patients also lost their battle against Covid-19 there on the day, taking the toll in the district to 800, the NHM bulletin stated. As many as 5,886 East Singhbhum residents were battling the viral infection by the end of Saturday.

Among other districts, Bokaro reported 729 cases against 457 recoveries, while Hazaribag reported 271 cases against 532 recoveries. Even though Dhanbad reported only 172 cases against 187 recoveries on the day, at least 11 Covid patients died during treatment there in the past 24 hours. Bokaro reported eight Covid casualties, while nine patients died in Hazaribag.

The state on Saturday tested swab samples of 45,658 residents and about 13 per cent of them were found infected, highlighted the NHM bulletin. So far, over 2.82 lakh Jharkhand residents have been infected by the mysterious virus and 76.98 per cent of them have recovered, reveals government data. The doubling rate in the state was 34.83 days against the national average of 51.52 days.

Meanwhile, the state on Saturday administered the first dose of vaccine against Covid-19 to 8831 beneficiaries. The second jab was administered to 15,025 residents on the day.