There was no spread of Covid-19 infection during Durga Puja in Jharkhand.

A massive testing conducted by the government across the state on Saturday found only 0.59 per cent of those tested that day were Covid positive.

Out of the total 80,003 samples tested that day, the number of positive cases was 474 only.

“It seems Durga Puja did not have any major impact on spread of coronavirus infection in the state,” Jharkhand’s principal secretary (health) Nitin Madan Kulkarni told The Telegraph, adding the intention of the state-wide massive testing was to assess the impact of Durga Puja on spread of infection.

Jharkhand tested 33,62,394 samples till the end of October which is above one-tenth of the state’s total population of which 1,01,761 or 3.03 per cent were positive.

While 95,575 of the positive patients recovered and 884 died, positive caseload in the state remained at 5,302 at the end of October on Saturday.

The recovery rate in the state was 93.92 per cent on that day which was better than the national rate of 91.30 per cent. The mortality rate was also 0.86 per cent that was much less than the national rate of 1.50 percent.

Though 16 of the total 24 districts of the state had less than hundred positive cases on Saturday, only Ranchi and East Singhbhum among the rest 8 had caseloads of more than a thousand cases that day.

While the caseload of Ranchi stood at 1,742 on Saturday night, that of East Singhbhum remained 1,337.

These two districts together also recorded 408 deaths till October that accounted for 46.15 per cent of the total deaths in the state. While East Singhbhum witnessed 333 Covid deaths till October, Ranchi, despite having more positive cases, had 175.

The results of the massive Covid testing on Saturday indicates that the state government’s guidelines strictly restricting gatherings of devotees at Durga Puja pandals seem to have paid dividend.

The Muslim community also showed restraint and cancelled their customary procession on Milad-ul-Nabi, Hazrat Mohammed’s birthday, last week.

Two other major festivals — Diwali and Chhat — are also slated for later this month that involves large gatherings.

“We will remain vigilant,” principal secretary Kulkarni said when pointed out, adding the state government could not afford to go the situation out of control, particularly when it could arrest the spread of infection during Durga Puja.