Three more Ranchi residents died of Covid-19 virus on Wednesday, taking the Covid toll in the state to 1081 and that in Ranchi to 241, a bulletin released by the National Health Mission (NHM) stated.

Ranchi also reported 24 of the 45 fresh cases of Covid-19 infection that surfaced in Jharkhand on the day, while 21 of the 42 Covid patients who recovered on Wednesday were residents of Ranchi, the bulletin further stated.

While the number of active cases rose to 464 on the day, Jharkhand administered the first of two doses of Covishield vaccine to more than 1.5 lakh people by end of Wednesday, achieving 45 per cent of its vaccination target, a separate report from the NHM stated.

On Wednesday, as many as 13,884 healthcare workers and frontline workers, taking the total number of people inoculated in the state so far to 1,57,706, stated a report released by the NHM on Wednesday night. The state achieved 56 per cent of its vaccination target on the day, it further stated.

Ranchi, which was lagging behind other districts in vaccination rate, achieved 118 per cent of its target on Wednesday by inoculating 1899 people while only 1613 were registered to get Covishield jabs. However, the district has so far achieved only 29 per cent of its target despite vaccinating 15,996 people here. In terms of numbers, the district is the best performer in Jharkhand, but it is the worst performer in terms of vaccination rate.

Garhwa was the second-best performer in terms of vaccination rate on Wednesday. At least 1740 of the 1800 beneficiaries registered there were inoculated there, helping the district achieve 97 per cent of its target. Giridih was the worst performer of the day with only 19 per cent of the registered 1865 beneficiaries vaccinated there.

At least five more cases of Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) were reported in the state on Wednesday, taking the total count of AEFI cases in Jharkhand to 256, stated the NHM report. At least 170 of the 256 AEFI cases were reported in Ranchi, which did not report any fresh AEFI case on Wednesday. Bokaro and Dhanbad reported two AEFI cases each, while the fifth case occurred in Giridih.

As per government data, the state on Wednesday inoculated 12,713 healthcare workers and 8,010 frontline workers, mostly policemen. Around 63 per cent of the registered frontline workers were inoculated, while 48 per cent of healthcare workers were administered shots of Covishield vaccine.

More than 1.19 lakh people have been infected by the Covid-19 virus in Jharkhand so far, and 98.70 per cent of them have recovered, reveals government data. The growth rate of cases in Jharkhand was 0.03 per cent against the national average of 0.07 per cent, while the doubling rate in the state was more than 2187 days.