Jharkhand health minister Banna Gupta, who was unwell for the last few days with a cough and cold, tested Covid positive on Saturday. He has isolated himself at his residence in Jamshedpur.

“He undertook a Covid-19 test. The report has come positive. However, he is fine and is recuperating at his home in Jamshedpur,” said the minister's press adviser Sanjay Thakur.

The minister also informed his status using his Twitter handle and asked all those who had come in contact with him in the recent days to take adequate precautions and get themselves tested. “I also appeal to people to maintain Covid appropriate behavior at all times in public places,” he wrote.

Gupta is the fourth state cabinet minister to test postive for Covid. The others are Mithilesh Thakur (water resources), Haji Hussain Ansari (minority affairs minister) and Jagarnath Mahto (education), who tested positive during the first wave. Thakur has recovered, but Ansari succumbed to post-Covid complications. Mahto developed severe lung complications and had to undergo a lung transplant. It took him over eight months to fully recover.

Cases are rising rapidly in the current phase of the pandemic with at least half a dozen lawmakers contracting the virus recently. Among them are BJP's Hazaribagh MP Jayant Sinha, Congress's Barkagaon MLA Amba Prasad and BJP's Kanke MLA Samri Lal.

Within the state health department too, additional chief secretary Arun Kumar Singh and over a dozen officials are learnt to have tested positive in the last two days. Infctions are being reported mong frontline workers too, like doctors and policemen. Reports suggest that over 50 doctors of Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) and 150 policemen of the state have tested positive in a week.

Jharkhand continues to see four-digit spikes in daily cases. On Friday night, the state reported 3,825 new cases along with eight deaths to take the number of active cases to 17,206. Around Christmas last year, the state’s active caseload stood at about 50. In the last 24 hours, deaths were reported in Bokaro (3), Ranchi and East Singbhum (2 each) and Sahebganj (1).