Jharkhand education minister Jagarnath Mahto, who tested positive for Covid-19 last week, is critical and on non-invasive ventilator at the ICU of Bhagwan Mahavir Medica Superspecialty Hospital, authorities at the private healthcare facility said on Sunday.

Dr Vijay Mishra, who is treating Mahto at Medica, said the minister’s condition had improved marginally in the last couple of days. However, Mahto was still critical, he added.

“His condition has improved marginally. We had consulted doctors in Delhi, and they suggested that he should be treated in Ranchi as of now as he was not fit to travel,” said Mishra.

Mahto also suffers from minor coronary artery disease and is diabetic, Mishra said. “These are the only two comorbidities he has,” the doctor added.

The 53-year-old JMM leader, who tested positive last Monday, was admitted to the state-run Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) after he complained of breathlessness. The oxygen level in his body, doctors said, was alarmingly low. Mahto was referred to Medica on Friday for better treatment.

Earlier, the assistant vice president of Medica in Ranchi, Anil Kumar, admitted that Mahto’s condition was frail, and his family was planning to shift him to Delhi if needed.

“Doctors will take a call on whether he needs to be shifted to Delhi or not. As of now, there is no such update,” said Kumar, adding that Medica in Ranchi did not have air ambulance facility, but the minister could still be taken to Delhi by air if needed.

Sources from the hospital said that Mahto’s blood oxygen level had dropped below 65 mm Hg, while it should be in between 75 to 100 mm Hg. The minister was feeling drowsy and restless when he was taken to RIMS. His condition further deteriorated there, sources from Medica said.

Mahto was recently in the news for taking admission in intermediate (class 12) at the age of 53, and then gifting cars to the toppers of class 10 and 12 board exams in Jharkhand. He had first complained of vomiting tendency and weakness during a visit to his constituency, Dumri, last week and then tested positive for the viral infection.

Mahto is among four ministers in the Hemant Soren cabinet who have been infected by the virus so far. State’s minority welfare minister Haji Hussain Ansari, one of the Covid-infected ministers in Jharkhand, died of a cardiac arrest while undergoing treatment at Medanta Hospital in Ranchi on Saturday. But the 70-year-old’s last test report indicated that he had recovered from Covid.

State health minister Banna Gupta and drinking water and sanitation minister Mithilesh Thakur were also infected. But they have recovered after undergoing treatment for over a week at RIMS. JMM patriarch and Rajya Sabha MP Shibu Soren, a septuagenarian, has also defeated the Novel Coronavirus after undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Gurugram.