The growth rate of Covid-19 in Jharkhand dropped below the national average on Tuesday after almost a month as the state reported at least 4859 recoveries against 2925 fresh cases in the past 24 hours, which brought the active caseload down to 31,528, figures compiled by the health department highlighted.

As per bulletin released by the National Health Mission (NHM), the growth rate of Covid-19 in the state was 0.91 per cent against the national average of 0.93 per cent on Tuesday, while the doubling rate of cases in Jharkhand also improved in comparison to the national average. As per NHM data, it would take 76.68 days for the cases to double in the state against the national doubling rate of 75.03 days.

While the Covid recovery rate in the state also surpassed the national average of 85.60 per cent and reached 88.74 per cent with recoveries outnumbering fresh cases every day in the past fortnight, Jharkhand’s Covid mortality rate continued to be higher than the national average 0f 1.10 per cent. As per NHM data, the Covid mortality rate in Jharkhand was 1.43 per cent on Tuesday.

At least 62 Covid patients, including 20 from Ranchi alone and 17 from East Singhbhum, died in the past 24 hours, taking the Covid toll in the state to 4601. As per government data, at least 1441 Ranchi residents have died of Covid-19 so far, while 930 have died in East Singhbhum.

The active caseload, however, dropped in Ranchi as well as East Singhbhum as recoveries outnumbered fresh cases of infection in both the districts on the day. As per government data, at least 330 recoveries against 289 fresh cases brought the active caseload in Ranchi down to 6,731. The active caseload dropped to 3,265 in East Singhbhum as 948 patients recovered there while 784 were found infected.

The state on Tuesday tested swab samples of 54,338 residents and around 6 per cent of them were found infected. As per government data, over 3.20 lakh Jharkhand residents have been infected by the virus so far and around 89 per cent of them have recovered.

Bokaro reported 198 cases against 365 recoveries, while 241 people were found infected in Dhanbad and 144 patients recovered there. Hazaribag reported 170 cases against 401 recoveries, while 104 people were found infected in Ramgarh and 319 Covid patients recovered there.

Meanwhile, the state on Tuesday administered the first dose of vaccine against Covid-19 to 48,725 residents, including 37,992 in the age bracket of 18 years to 44 years. The second dose was administered to 2,565 beneficiaries on the day, stated a separate report from the NHM.