East Singhbhum accounted for more than half of the 603 fresh cases of Covid-19 reported in Jharkhand on Tuesday, while the active caseload in the district also increased as only 134 patients recovered from the infection there against 348 people found infected on the day, figures compiled by the health department highlighted.

The gap between fresh cases of infection and Covid recoveries also narrowed on the day as the state reported 803 recoveries against the 600-odd cases. In the past one week, Jharkhand reported at least twice as many recoveries as fresh cases every day on an average, while none of the districts reported a spike of more than 50 in the past three days.

As many as 13 Covid patients died in the state on the day and at least five of them breathed their last in East Singhbhum, taking the Covid toll in the district to 1027 and that in Jharkhand to 5073, a bulletin released by the National Health Mission (NHM) stated. As many as 814 people in East Singhbhum were battling the infection by the end of Tuesday.

Barring East Singhbhum, no other district reported a triple-digit-spike on Tuesday in Jharkhand. While 29 people were found infected in Ranchi, as many as 30 cases were reported in Dhanbad. However, recoveries outnumbered fresh cases in both the districts.

The active caseload in Ranchi dropped to 1430 as at least 97 patients recovered here. The capital, however, accounted for five casualties on the day, which took the Covid toll here to 1582, the NHM stated in its bulletin. Dhanbad reported 37 recoveries, which brought the active caseload there down to 177.

Among other districts, Bokaro reported five cases against 33 recoveries, while Chatra reported nine cases against 26 recoveries. As per government data, as many as 25 people were found infected in Hazaribag and 23 patients recovered there. Lohardaga reported 16 cases against 39 recoveries.

Even during the recently concluded Intensive Public Health Survey (IPHS) conducted in rural Jharkhand, East Singhbhum accounted for the highest number of Covid cases among the 24 districts in the state. During the survey, at least 108 people were found infected in the district, while 107 were found infected in Ranchi. As many as 981 people were found infected by Coronavirus during the survey across rural Jharkhand.

So far, Ranchi has reported 84,850 Covid cases while East Singhbhum accounts for 50,943 cases. Ranchi has also accounted for the highest number of casualties in totality, but East Singhbhum has reported a sudden spike in cases as well as fatalities lately, health officials said.

The growth rate of infection in the state was 0.14 per cent against the national average of 0.28 per cent on Tuesday, while the recovery rate in Jharkhand jumped to 97.02 per cent against the national average of 94.30 per cent. The Covid mortality rate in the state remained 1.48 per cent against the national average of 1.20 per cent.

The state on Tuesday administered the first dose of vaccine against Covid-19 to 48,368 residents and almost 30,000 of them were in the age bracket of 18 years to 44 years. The second jab was administered to 5796 beneficiaries, mostly commoners above the age of 45 years.