1st home isolation death in state, toll touches 255

Ranchi/Gumla: Jharkhand recorded its first home isolation Covid death as a patient diagnosed with the virus succumbed to the infection at his residence at Kharwatoli village in Simdega district on Monday. The 65-year-old man, among the 11 fatalities reported across the state in 24 hours, had tested positive for Covid on August 13 ahead of a surgical procedure for a urinary tract ailment.
Talking to TOI, Simdega civil surgeon Dr P K Sinha said, “The surgery was deferred and the patient was admitted to a Covid care centre set up at the Polytechnic College. He fell in the bathroom and sustained some injuries, but we shifted him to home isolation on his family’s request on August 14.”
Sinha said the precise reason for his death – Covid, injuries or the UT ailment – has not been determined as the bodies of Covid casualties are not being sent for autopsy in the state.
Meanwhile, apart from the 11 casualties, the state reported 843 new infections in 24 hours, of which 110 cases and three deaths (two in East Singhbhum and one in Dhanbad) were recorded late on Sunday night. On Monday, three more deaths were reported in East Singhbhum while two deaths were recorded in Koderma. Dhanbad, Sahibganj and Simdega reported one death each.
Of the 733 new cases on Monday, Ranchi accounted for 153 infections, Palamu for 152, Dhanbad reported 67 cases while East Singhbhum reported 50. Bokaro, which had 177 active cases till Sunday, detected 44 new infections on Monday. On Monday, 16,682 samples were tested across 24 districts and the positivity rate stood at 4.39%. The state’s recovery rate (63.77%) remains short of the national average by nine points. Jharkhand now has a caseload of 24,067 cases, of which 8,464 are active, 15,348 have recovered (including 601 in the last 24 hours) and 255 have died.