Jharkhand reported its highest single-day-spike in Covid cases and casualties this year on Tuesday as at least 2,844 state residents were found infected by the deadly virus and 29 Covid patients died in 24 hours, figures compiled by the National Health Mission (NHM) highlighted.

As per a bulletin released by the NHM on Tuesday night, the active caseload in Jharkhand reached 17,155 on the day, while the count of Covid patients in Ranchi jumped to 7,587 as the district alone accounted for 1,049 of the close to 3,000 fresh cases. As many as 1,003 Covid patients recovered from the viral infection in the state on Tuesday, while Ranchi reported 429 Covid recoveries, the NHM stated in its bulletin.

Ranchi and East Singhbhum, two of the districts with highest fatality rate in the state, reported six Covid deaths each on Tuesday, while four patients died in Hazaribagh. Three patients died in Simdega, while Dhanbad and West Singhbhum reported one casualty each. Two Covid patients also breathed their last in Bokaro in the past 24 hours.

Tuesday’s developments took the Covid toll in Jharkhand to 1,261. As per government data, at least 379 East Singhbhum residents and 323 Ranchi residents have died of Covid-19 infection in the state so far. The state has reported 48 Covid casualties in the past 48 hours.

East Singhbhum and Hazaribagh reported a triple digit spike in cases on Tuesday. With 434 cases and 158 recoveries, the active caseload in East Singhbhum reached 2,079. The active caseload in Hazaribag reached 788 as the district reported 209 cases against only four Covid recoveries on the day.

The doubling rate of Covid cases also dropped below the 50-day-mark on Tuesday. As per government data, it would take 48.80 days for the cases to double in Jharkhand against the doubling rate of 84.84 across India. The growth rate of infection in the state was also a growing concern. As per NHM data, Jharkhand Covid-19 growth rate was 1.43 per cent against the national average of 0.82 per cent.

The government on Tuesday tested swab samples of as many as 34,155 people and more than 7 per cent of them were found infected. As per figures with the NHM, over 1.44 lakh people have tested positive in Jharkhand so far and 87.62 per cent of them have recovered.

Meanwhile, the state on Tuesday administered the first dose of vaccine against Covid-19 to 71,916 people, about 57 per cent of the over 1.26 lakh residents registered for the dose. The second jab was administered to only 6,636 beneficiaries, hardly 3 per cent of the more than 2.35 lakh people registered for the dose.