Over 500 Covid-19 patients tested negative for the virus on Monday, taking the total count of Covid recoveries in Jharkhand close to 96,500, figures compiled by the National Health Mission (NHM) stated.

While recoveries outnumbered the number of fresh cases, the Covid toll in the state also increased as one more patient from Ranchi died during treatment in 24 hours. As per government data, as many as 886 people have died of Covid-19 in Jharkhand so far, and at least 176 of them were from Ranchi. The Covid mortality rate in Jharkhand was 0.86 per cent against the national average of 1.49 per cent.

Jharkhand’s recovery rate further improved on the day and reached 94.14 per cent after only 403 fresh cases of infection surfaced against 512 recoveries, a daily bulletin released by the NHM highlighted. The national Covid-19 recovery rate, as per government data, was 91.70 per cent on Monday.

The count of active cases reduced in Ranchi, East Singhbhum and Dhanbad – three of the worst-affected districts – as recoveries outnumbered fresh cases in all the three districts. As many as 122 people were found infected in Ranchi on the day against 138 recoveries, while East Singhbhum reported 40 cases against 65 recoveries and Dhanbad reported 50 cases against 90 recoveries, the NHM bulletin highlighted.

The number of active cases of Covid-19 infection has dropped below 100 in at least 18 of 24 districts in Jharkhand. Ranchi and East Singhbhum, two of the remaining six districts, have more than 1000 active cases. The figures, officials said, indicate that Covid cases were concentrated in these two districts.

Around 1600 people were battling the infection in Ranchi, while 1300 were undergoing treatment in East Singhbhum on Monday. So far, the government has collected swab samples of 34.39 lakh people and tested 34.31 lakh of them. Of the over 34 lakh people tested, 1,02,490 were found infected.

On Monday, health workers across Jharkhand tested swab samples of 29,510 people and around 1.3 per cent of them were found to be infected. At least 5,119 people were battling the virus across the state by the end of Monday, government data stated.

The NHM bulletin on Monday highlighted that the doubling rate of Covid-19 infection in Jharkhand was 223.6 days against the national average of 134.4 days. The growth rate of the virus in Jharkhand was 0.29 per cent against the national average of 0.54 per cent.