The active Covid caseload in Jharkhand crossed the 3000 mark for the first time in 2021 on Thursday as at least 690 people, including 369 in Ranchi alone, were found infected by the mysterious virus, figures compiled by the National Health Mission (NHM) highlighted.

A bulletin released by the NHM revealed that the state reported only 162 Covid recoveries against the over 650 cases, which took the count of active cases in Jharkhand to 3352 on Thursday. Ranchi reported 59 Covid recoveries on the day, and the active caseload here jumped to 1872, which is more than 50 per cent of the total active cases in Jharkhand.

Another Covid patient, a resident of Dumka, died during treatment on Thursday, taking the Covid toll in the state to 1114, NHM stated in its bulletin. More than five Jharkhand residents have died of Covid-19 infection in the state this week and at least three casualties were reported in Ranchi, the worst-affected district in terms of caseload and growth rate of infection.

The growth rate of Covid infection in Jharkhand also reached 0.30 per cent on Thursday against the national average of 0.37 per cent. As per NHM records, the growth rate in Jharkhand was 0.10 per cent in the beginning of March. As per government data, the doubling rate too has dropped to 229.73 days in Jharkhand from above 2500 days back in March first week. The data indicates that it would take around 229 days for the number of Covid cases to double in Jharkhand at the current pace.

With fresh cases outnumbering recoveries almost every day since mid-March, the Covid recovery rate in Jharkhand has also dripped to 96.42 per cent, reveals government data. The recovery rate in the state was above 98.60 per cent in the first week of March.

Ranchi was the only district to report a triple-digit-spike in cases on Thursday. Among other districts, East Singhbhum reported 71 fresh cases, while Dhanbad reported 31 fresh cases of infection, stated a bulletin released by the NHM.

As per government data, more than 1.24 lakh people have been infected by the Covid-19 virus in Jharkhand so far, and over 1.20 lakh of them have recovered. More than 35,000 of these cases were reported in Ranchi.

Meanwhile, the state on Thursday administered the first dose of Covishield vaccine to as many as 21,318 people, including over 19,500 senior citizens, thereby achieving 44 per cent of its target for the day. As many as 3667 beneficiaries, around 74 per cent of the registered beneficiaries, were administered the second dose of the vaccine on the day.