15 deaths take Covid toll to 362 in J’khand

Ranchi: The state’s Covid toll crossed the 350-mark with 15 casualties in 24 hours taking the body count to 362. Jharkhand also reported 1,137 fresh infections and 736 recoveries on Wednesday, taking the cumulative case load to 33,311; of which 10,463 are active and 22,486 have recovered including 736 on Wednesday.
Among the 15 casualties, five – four in Ranchi and one in Ramgarh – were recorded on Tuesday nighty. On Wednesday, East Singhbum recorded six deaths, followed by Bokaro with two and Deoghar and Ranchi one each.
The state’s urban centres continued to report new cases in three digits with East Singhbhum getting 132 new cases, Ranchi reporting 173, Hazaribag 167 and Dhanbad 133. Giridih and Garhwa reported 81 and 72 fresh cases respectively.
The state positivity ratio on Wednesday fell to 2.78% with reports of 1,137 of the 40,786 samples tested returning. The spike in number of tests is a result of the statewide testing drive conducted in districts where testing rates have been lower than expectation. “The rise in the number of cases in Hazaribag, Dhanbad, Garhwa and Giridih is a result of this,” said a health department official.
Meanwhile, state state parliamentary affairs minister and Congress’s Pakur MLA Alamgir Alam tested negative for Covid-19 late on Tuesday night. He got tested as a precautionary measure as his cabinet colleagues from Congress party Banna Gupta and Badal Patralekh had tested positive in last 10 days.