The Covid tally in Jharkhand drew close to 45,000 on Wednesday as over 1000 people were found infected in the last 24 hours, figures released by the health department on Wednesday late night stated.

While 10 Covid patients lost their battle against the virus on Wednesday, taking the toll in Jharkhand to 438, as many as 1383 patients recovered from the infection and were subsequently discharged from hospital as per government figures.

With 253 fresh cases of the infection, Ranchi once again reported the highest number of Covid cases among 24 districts in Jharkhand on Wednesday. However, as many as 512 Covid patients recovered in the district on the same day, causing a dip in the number of active cases here. As per government figures, over 9000 Covid cases have been reported in the district so far while 3,804 of them is undergoing treatment.

The Covid toll in East Singhbhum, which has reported highest Covid casualties in Jharkhand so far, reached 199 on Wednesday and seven of 10 Covid deaths reported in Jharkhand occurred in the district. The Covid mortality rate in Jharkhand, however, dropped to 0.97 per cent on Wednesday. East Singhbhum reported 228 fresh cases of infection on Wednesday, while 275 Covid patients recovered in the district.

The government has so far collected swab samples of over 9.91 lakh people and tested around 9.80 lakh of them. On Wednesday, health workers tested swab samples of 20,846 people, and 19,819 of them came negative.

Jharkhand’s Covid recovery rate, as per government data, was 66.30 per cent on Wednesday after the number of recoveries surpassed the count of fresh cases of infection. As many as 44,862 people have been infected by the virus so far in Jharkhand and 29,747 of them have recovered, figures of the health department state. There were 14,677 active cases of infection in the state by the time this report was filed.

The virus has infected nearly 4000 cops and more than a dozen politicians in the state so far. Doctors say that policemen and politicians were more likely to get infected as they have to meet people and go out of their homes more often. The government has set up a special isolation centre for infected policemen in Ranchi’s Visthapit Colony.