Jharkhand registered a Covid-19 recovery rate of over 90 per cent for the first time after more than 1,100 Covid patients recovered from the infection across the state on Saturday and relatively fewer cases surfaced, data compiled by the health department showed.

Besides the recovery rate climbing up to 90.5 per cent, the number of active cases of infection in the state also dropped below 9,000 after only 768 fresh cases surfaced against as many as 1,158 recoveries, a bulletin released by the National Health Mission (NHM) stated.

Jharkhand’s Covid-19 recovery rate, health officials said, was among the best in the country, and above the national average of 85.50 per cent. As per government data, as many as 91,254 people have been infected by the virus so far in Jharkhand and at least 81,654 of them have recovered.

While the rate of recovery improved significantly in the past week, the number of Covid-19 casualties has also been on the rise. Government figures stated that at least six more Covid patients, including three in Ranchi, died during treatment on Saturday, taking the toll in the state to 781. The mortality rate in Jharkhand was 0.85 per cent against the national average of 1.50 per cent.

Saturday’s test results and recovery records caused marginal dip in the number of active cases of infection in Ranchi as well as East Singhbhum, two of the worst-affected districts in Jharkhand. As per government records, as many as 314 cases of infection surfaced in Ranchi on the day against 378 recoveries, bringing the count of active cases down to 2,752. In East Singhbhum, 156 patients recovered while 103 fresh cases surfaced, bringing the number of active cases down to 1,686.

All the remaining 22 districts in Jharkhand reported cases in double digits. As many as 48 cases surfaced in Bokaro, the third highest in the state. Meanwhile, only one person was found infected in Pakur. The number of active cases in Dhanbad dropped to 478 after 49 patients recovered there against 41 fresh cases.

The government has so far collected swab samples of 25.80 lakh people in Jharkhand and 25.76 lakh of them have been tested. On Saturday, health workers tested swab samples of 30,524 people.

As per official records, the doubling rate of Covid-19 infection in Jharkhand reached 70.23 days against the national average of 59.89 days. The growth rate of the virus in the past week was 0.98 per cent in Jharkhand against the national growth rate of 1.10 per cent.