The Covid tally in Jharkhand inched towards 10,000 on Wednesday night as 221 more people were found infected across the state, government data stated.

The death toll touched triple digit figures as at least five patients, including three from Ranchi, lost their battle against the novel coronavirus, a bulletin released by National Health Mission (NHM) said. As per figures with the health department, as many as 99 people have died of Covid-19 in the state so far.

The state's tally stood at 9,894 on Wednesday. As per figures compiled by NHM, Jharkhand has witnessed an increase of at least 200 cases every day on an average in the month of July, and local residents accounted for more than 70 per cent of the total cases in the state.

The state's Covid recovery rate dropped to 41.04 per cent on Wednesday as 77 patients were cured of the viral infection, officials said. The Covid mortality rate in Jharkhand rose to 1 per cent on Wednesday owing to the five casualties reported. The national Covid mortality rate is 2.23 per cent, while the national Covid recovery rate is 64.48 per cent.

The number of active cases in the state reached 5,735 on Wednesday. However, the government has assured everyone that there were surplus beds in Jharkhand for Covid patients. Health secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni recently said that around 7,000 Covid beds were available across Jharkhand. Besides, hotel rooms will also be used to house patients, he added.

Ranchi, which continues to be the worst-affected district in Jharkhand, reported 27 fresh cases of infection on Wednesday. Over 100 cases surfaced in the city every day in the past one week.

As on Wednesday evening, the number of active cases in Ranchi was 1,394, the highest among all districts in Jharkhand. So far, 1,911 cases of infection have surfaced in Ranchi and 497 of them have recovered, highlights government data. As many as 23 Covid patients have died in Ranchi, it further states. Most of the deceased, officials said, had comorbid conditions.

Meanwhile, East Singhbhum, which reported 40 fresh Covid cases on Wednesday, is the second worst-affected district in Jharkhand. Besides Ranchi, East Singhbhum is the only district that has active cases in triple digit. The district has reported as many as 24 Covid casualties till date.

Interestingly, the number of cases in Deoghar, which is the third worst-affected district in Jharkhand, was only 302 on Wednesday. As per NHM data, at least 16 of 24 districts in the state have active cases in triple digits.

The government has so far collected swab samples of 2.88 lakh people and tested 2.77 lakh of them. Around 2.4 lakh people have been put in home quarantine in Jharkhand and nearly 6000 have been sent to institutional quarantine.