Jharkhand reported less than 50 Covid casualties for the second consecutive day on Saturday, while the active caseload dropped close to 22,000 as the state reported around twice as many Covid recoveries as fresh cases of infection in the past 24 hours, figures released by the health department highlighted.

A bulletin from the National Health Mission (NHM) stated that as many as 3,929 Covid patients recovered from the viral infection on the day, while at least 2,037 people were found infected in Jharkhand. The active caseload in the state dropped to 22,566 after the day’s findings. Jharkhand on Saturday reported 41 Covid casualties and at least nine of them occurred in Ranchi, taking the toll in the state to 4,801 and that in Ranchi to 1,489, the bulletin further stated.

Ranchi reported 210 cases against 301 recoveries on Saturday, which brought the active caseload here down to 5,039. On the other hand, East Singhbhum accounted for 391 of the 2000-odd fresh cases of infection and 596 of the close to 4,000 recoveries on the day. The active caseload in East Singhbhum stood at 1,895. The district also reported seven deaths on the day which took the toll there to 965.

Among other districts, Bokaro reported 162 cases against 233 recoveries, while Dhanbad reported 127 cases against 375 recoveries. At least 160 people were found infected by Coronavirus in Palamu and 156 patients recovered there. In Hazaribag, 107 people were found infected and 463 patients recovered from 10 pm on Friday to 10 pm on Saturday.

The state on Saturday tested swab samples of 58,347 residents and around 5 per cent of them were found infected. So far, more than 3.29 lakh Jharkhand residents have been infected by the lethal virus and 91.68 per cent of them have recovered, highlights government data.

As per NHM data, the growth rate of cases in the state dropped to 0.60 per cent on Saturday against the national average of 0.74 per cent, while the doubling rate of cases in the state reached 115.21 days against the national doubling rate of 93.96 days. The Covid mortality rate in the state, however, stood at 1.45 per cent which was higher than the national average of 1.10 per cent.

The state also administered the first dose of vaccine against Covid-19 to 36,282 residents, including 28,541 in the age bracket of 18 years to 44 years, a separate report from the NHM stated. The second jab was administered to only 1,961 residents, mostly above the age of 45 years.