Jharkhand on Thursday reported the highest single-day-spike in Covid cases in the month of March as at least 278 fresh cases took the active caseload above the 1000 mark on the day, a bulletin released by the National Health Mission (NHM) stated.

As per the bulletin, Ranchi alone reported 170 cases against only 47 recoveries on Thursday, and the active caseload here reached 574. By Thursday evening, at least 1175 Jharkhand residents were battling a Covid-19 infection.

The state on Thursday tested swab samples of over 11,000 people and more than 2 per cent of them were found infected. The growth rate of Covid-19 in Jharkhand also reached 0.11 per cent on the day against the national average of 0.29 per cent. As per government data, it would take more than 640 days for the cases to double in the state.

Jharkhand on Thursday administered the first dose of the vaccine to as many as 32,669 residents and the second dose to only 3812 beneficiaries, achieving 56 per cent of its target for the first dose and only 4 per cent for the second dose, figures compiled by the NHM highlighted.

As many as 24,594 senior citizens and 6,254 middle-agers with comorbid conditions got the first jab of the vaccine in the state on Thursday. While the state has administered the first dose of the vaccine to over 12 lakh Jharkhand residents, it has only managed to administer the second jab to 2.27 lakh beneficiaries, reveals government data.

So far, the second dose of the vaccine has only been provided to healthcare and frontline workers. The health department will start administering the second dose of the vaccine to senior citizens and middle-agers with comorbid conditions next month onwards, officials said.

Ranchi is the only district in Jharkhand to vaccinate more than 1 lakh residents. So far, over 1.20 lakh residents have received the first dose of the vaccine, while over 25,000 have received the second jab as well. As per government data, Jharkhand has achieved 83 per cent of its target for administering the first dose of the vaccine and 70 per cent of the target for administering the second dose.

Jharkhand also launched a special Panchayat level vaccination drive on March 20 in which it has set a target of vaccinating 10 lakh rural residents. So far, the government has managed to vaccinate over 5 lakh people during the campaign. The special Panchayat level drive will also be conducted on Friday and Saturday, officials said.