Another Covid patient died in East Singhbhum on Thursday, taking the Covid toll in the state to 5141 amid Omicron fear, data released by the health department on Friday revealed.
This is the first Covid fatality reported in Jharkhand in the month of December. Earlier in November, the state reported at least two Covid deaths, records with the National Health Mission (NHM) highlighted.
Thursday’s Covid death took the Covid toll in East Singhbhum to 1048, the second highest in the state. As per government data, Ranchi has reported at least 1585 Covid deaths so far, the highest among the 24 districts in Jharkhand.
Meanwhile, the active caseload in Jharkhand has dropped below 100 after witnessing a spike following the festive season. As per latest data with the health department, at least 97 state residents were battling a SARS-CoV-2 infection in Jharkhand.
Ranchi continues to be the worst-affected district with 37 active cases. East Singhbhum, which reported a Covid casualty in November as well, had at least 30 active cases by Friday morning. As per government data, these two districts account for about 70 per cent of the active cases in Jharkhand.
Records with the NHM highlight that the Covid mortality rate in Jharkhand was 1.47 per cent, which is higher than the national average of 1.40 per cent. The Covid recovery rate in the state was 98.50 per cent, almost the same as the national average.
As per government data, more than 34.92 lakh people have tested positive for Covid-19 in Jharkhand so far, and over 34.44 lakh of them have recovered.
While the count of Covid cases has not witnessed a major rise in the state, Jharkhand has failed to achieve its vaccination targets since late October. On Thursday, the state vaccinated about 1.08 lakh beneficiaries, which is less than half of the daily set target of 4 lakh jabs.
As per government records, there are over 2.41 crore vaccine beneficiaries in Jharkhand, and close to 70 per cent of them have received at least one dose of vaccine against Covid-19. More than 33 per cent of beneficiaries in the state have also received the second jab.
The health department has directed all the districts to strengthen their medical infrastructure in the wake of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus, declared a variant of concern by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
