As many as 15,161Jharkhand residents, including over 10,000 senior citizens, were administered the first dose of Covishield vaccine on Saturday, while almost 12,000 healthcare workers and frontline workers got the second jab, figures compiled by the National Health Mission (NHM) stated.

However, the state achieved only nine per cent of its target for administering the first dose of vaccine to frontline and healthcare workers and 17 per cent of the target for the second dose on the day. As many as 3,164 healthcare and frontline workers got the first jab, while 11,864 got the second, an NHM report stated.

So far, as many as 4,59,907 people, including 92,104 senior citizens and 16,078 middle-agers with comorbidities, have been administered the first dose of the vaccine in Jharkhand. As many as 1,41,122 beneficiaries have received the second jab, as per government data.

Meanwhile, Ranchi continued to report the bulk of fresh Covid cases on the day. As per a bulletin released by the NHM, the district accounted for 20 of 43 cases on the day. However, 26 of the 37 Covid recoveries in Jharkhand were also reported from Ranchi.

The count of active cases have been on the rise in Jharkhand this month with the number soaring to 515 on Saturday. While the active cases dropped in Ranchi, the district still accounted for more than 60 per cent of the patients with 307 cases, the NHM bulletin stated.

The state has so far reported 1,20,567 cases of Covid-19 infection and more than 98 per cent of the patients have recovered. The growth rate of infection in Jharkhand was 0.04 per cent against the national average of 0.13 per cent. At the current pace, it would take over 1800 days for the cases to double in Jharkhand. The national doubling rate was around 525 days.

At least 14 of the 24 districts did not report fresh Covid cases on the day. Urban districts – Ranchi and East Singhbhum – reported most of the fresh cases. East Singhbhum reported nine cases against eight recoveries, while Bokaro, Deoghar and Dhanbad reported two cases each. Barring Ranchi, all the remaining 23 districts had less than 100 active cases.