PremiumResidents in the Sakra block of Bihar's Muzzafarpur district are living in a state of panic as 36 people died in 27 days after having contracted cough and fever.
While the villagers have expressed apprehension that the deaths were due to Covid-19, the local administration has denied the claims.
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Premium Premium The streets of the village now wear a deserted look as people are afraid to step out from their houses.
The matter is being reported from Saramastapur Panchayat of Sakra block in the Muzzafarpur district.
News agency ANI quoted a local as saying that a total of 36 people have died so far. He said the number may increase in the coming days as many people continue to be ill. He also claimed that most people have died only after symptoms like cough and fever.
Pramod Kumar Gupta, the sarpanch of Muzzafarpur's Sakra Block, also said that while some of the dead include the elderly, the rest have died from cold, cough, fever.
He said they have informed the district administration about the sudden increase in the death rate and asked to investigate the matter to know the cause.
"36 deaths in 27 days seen due to cough and cold. I had informed the block medical officer for testing but there were no kits. I then requested DM for kits and to find out the cause of deaths. Kits have been made available and testing is being done," said Gupta.
Meanwhile, Sanjeev Kumar, Sakra PHC in charge denied the claim and said that "not everyone has died due to coronavirus. Many people have died of other diseases."
A few days back, thousands of antigen kits, sanitisers and other items kept for black marketing were raided and seized by the police from a village in Sakra.
Cases in Bihar
The state recorded 111 Covid-19 fatalities on Tuesday, its highest single-day spike, causing the death toll to soar past the 4,000-mark.
This is an indication of the grim situation prevailing in the state despite recent improvements in positivity rate and active caseload.
Although now seemingly on the wane, the ongoing second wave has wrought massive devastation in the state which can be gauged from the fact that more than half of the total Covid-19 deaths have been reported in the past four weeks.
Nonetheless, the lockdown, which has been in force since the beginning of the month, seems to have achieved some success in containing the contagion as evident from the recovery rate of 89.15%.
With inputs from agencies.
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