At least seven Covid patients, including six from Ranchi alone, died during treatment in Jharkhand on Thursday, while the active caseload in the state jumped to 9429 as at least 1882 people were found infected by the Covid-19 virus from Wednesday night to Thursday night, figures compiled by the National Health Mission (NHM) highlighted.

Besides reporting six Covid casualties, Ranchi also reported 858 fresh cases of infection on the day – the highest among the 24 districts in Jharkhand. Ranchi also reported 239 of the 498 Covid recoveries on Thursday, but the active caseload here still rose to 4,727, which is more than 50 per cent of the total number of active cases in the state.

As per government data, as many as 1158 people have died of Covid-19 in Jharkhand and at least 282 of them were from Ranchi, which has reported the highest number of Covid casualties in the state since mid-March. The Covid toll was 360 in East Singhbhum, which reported the highest number of Covid deaths during the first wave of the virus last year.

The active caseload also crossed the 1000 mark in East SInghbhum on Thursday as the district reported 204 cases of infection against 56 Covid recoveries, a bulletin released by the NHM stated. In terms of caseload, East Singhbhum is only second to Ranchi in the state.

Thursday’s findings took the growth rate of Covid-19 in Jharkhand to 0.80 per cent against the national average of 0.61 per cent, government data revealed. The doubling rate of cases in the state also dropped below 100 days for the first time this year on Thursday. As per government data, it would take 86.97 days for the cases to double in Jharkhand against the national doubling rate of 114.53 days.

As per government records, more than 1.32 lakh people have been infected by the mysterious virus in Jharkhand so far and 92.16 per cent of them have recovered. The Covid recovery rate in the state has dropped from close to 99 per cent in mid-March to 92.16 per cent in the first week of April.

Meanwhile, the state administered the first dose of the vaccine against Covid-19 virus to 40,584 residents, while the second dose was administered to as many as 5119 people. As per NHM data, the state achieved 50 per cent of its target for the first dose of the vaccine and only 3 per cent of the target for the second dose. The state also received 2 lakh doses of Covaxin from the Centre on Thursday.