At least eight more Jharkhand residents, including five from Ranchi and two from Dhanbad, died of a Covid-19 infection on Sunday, while the count of active cases in the state crossed the 5000 mark, figures compiled by the National Health Mission (NHM) highlighted.

The state reported 788 fresh cases of infection on the day against 149 recoveries, and the active caseload jumped to 5244, a bulletin released by the NHM stated. With 446 fresh cases, Ranchi alone accounted for more than 60 per cent of the cases on Sunday, which took the active caseload here to 3015, the NHM bulletin further stated.

Sunday’s casualties took the Covid toll in the state to 1130 and that in Ranchi to 267, the second highest among districts in Jharkhand. East Singhbhum has so far reported 358 Covid casualties, the highest in the state. Bokaro also reported one Covid casualty on the day, while two Covid patients’ death in Dhanbad took the toll there to 121.

The growth rate of the virus in Jharkhand crossed the national average of 0.45 per cent on the day, revealed government data. As per figures with the NHM, the growth rate of infection in the state shot up from 0.10 per cent in February to 0.48 per cent on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the doubling rate in Jharkhand also dropped below the national average. As per NHM data, it would take 145.97 days for the cases to double in Jharkhand against the national average of 153.35 days. The doubling rate in Jharkhand was above 2500 days in the first week of March.

As per government data, as many as 1,27,246 people have been infected by the mysterious virus in Jharkhand so far, and 94.98 per cent of them have recovered. The government on Sunday tested swab samples of 12,072 people and more than 5 per cent of them were found infected.

Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Sunday admitted that the second wave of Covid-19 has hit Jharkhand and urged the residents of the state to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour. He also requested Jharkhand residents to get vaccinated on time.

On Sunday, the state administered the first dose of Covishield vaccine to 80,184 people, thereby achieving 70 per cent of its target for the day, NHM data highlighted. More than 80,000 of the beneficiaries on Sunday were commoners above the age of 45 years. The second dose of the vaccine was administered to only 2,391 beneficiaries, hardly 2 per cent of the over 1.41 lakh people registered for the second jab on the day.