The active caseload of Covid-19 in Jharkhand dropped to 5686 on Sunday as the state reported at least 838 Covid recoveries against 293 fresh cases of infection on the day, figures released by the health department highlighted.

As many as eight patients, including two from East Singhbhum and one from capital Ranchi, died during treatment, taking the Covid toll in the state to 5054, a bulletin released by the National Health Mission (NHM) stated.

The active caseload dropped to 1547 in Ranchi on the day as the district reported only 24 cases and 139 Covid recoveries. East Singbhum also witnessed a drop in the active caseload on the day. With 104 recoveries against 45 cases, the district’s active caseload dropped to 646.

None of the 24 districts in the state reported a spike of more than 50 cases on Sunday. With 45 cases, East Singhbhum reported the highest spike among the districts. On the other hand, Pakur and Chatra did not report fresh cases of infection on the day, but recoveries caused a drop in the active caseload in the two districts. Bokaro reported 10 cases against 55 recoveries, while Dhanbad reported 15 cases against 32 recoveries, the NHM highlighted in its bulletin.

The positivity rate of Covid-19 in Jharkhand was less than 1 per cent on Sunday. As per NHM data, as many as 42,566 residents were tested on the day and around 0.6 per cent of them were found infected by Coronavirus. The growth rate of infection in the state also dropped to 0.15 per cent on Sunday against the national average of 0.32 per cent, the NHM stated in its bulletin.

As per government data, the doubling rate of Jharkhand reached 478.29 days on Sunday against the national average of 217.94 days. The recovery rate in the state further increased to 96.85 per cent against the national recovery rate of 93.70 per cent, but the Covid mortality rate in the state remained above the national average. As per government data, at least 1.48 per cent of the over 3.41 lakh people infected by the deadly virus in Jharkhand could not survive.

The state on Sunday administered the first dose of vaccine against Covid-19 to 74,134 residents and more than 47,000 of them were in the age bracket of 18 to 44 years, stated a separate report from NHM. The second dose, as per the report, was administered to 4705 residents, mostly those above the age of 45 years.