The Covid-19 death toll in Jharkhand rose to eight on Tuesday after an elderly woman from Bokaro, suffering from severe neurological disorder, died during treatment at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi.

“She had a severe case of brain haemorrhage,” said RIMS Director Dr. DK Singh.

State health secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni, however, said that her death has to be registered as a Covid-19 death as she tested positive.

The deceased was admitted to Medica Superspecialty Hospital in Ranchi for a neurological-ailment. Her Covid-19 test result came positive on June 4, and she was subsequently shifted to RIMS, a doctor from Medica informed.

Meanwhile, the Covid-19 state count neared 1500 as more test results came positive, officials said.

As many as 85 fresh cases of Covid-19, including 16 from Koderma, surfaced on Tuesday. At least 12 cases were reported from Gumla, and an equal number of cases emerged from West Singhbhum at the time of filing this report.

Jharkhand has witnessed an unprecedented increase in Covid-19 cases in the past 48 hours, with more than 150 cases reported on Monday – the highest single-day surge till date. Fresh cases were reported from at least 14 districts on Tuesday, including capital Ranchi, where three new infections came to light.

Tuesday's findings take the total count in Jharkhand to 1416, a daily Covid-19 bulletin released by the National Health Mission (NHM) noted. As many as 40 Covid-19 patients recovered on Tuesday, the bulletin further informed.

The bulletin further revealed that at least 1100 of the 1400-odd Covid-19 cases reported in Jharkhand so far are migrant workers. The recovery rate of Covid-19 patients saw improvement on Tuesday, officials said.

The Government has so far collected samples of 97,695 Covid-19 suspects from across the state, and more than 1200 of them have tested positive. At least 95,099 of the 98,000-odd samples collected have been tested so far, the NHM bulletin said.