Bihar reports highest single-day spike of 479 Covid-19 cases; five deaths

Bihar reported its highest single-day spike of 479 Covid-19 cases on Thursday, taking the tally to 10,683, while five people died due to the disease, raising the death toll to 78, the health department said.

The state capital experienced mayhem following the explosion of more than 90 cases across the city, besides a fresh casualty in the district.

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One death each was also reported from Bhojpur, Kishanganj, Muzaffarpur, and Rohtas districts.

Patna has been the worst affected so far, accounting for 10 fatalities.

The city reported 63 cases in just three police station areas of Patna sub-division, prompting the district administration to set up 18 containment zones. In addition, more than 30 people were found infected in localities like Boring Road, Kankar Bagh, Gola Road, Danapur, Digha, Phulwari Sharif, Sipara.

The oldest patients happened to be both men and women in their 80s, an age group said to be most vulnerable to fatality in the face of the viral infection that has been declared a global pandemic.

A handful of cases were also reported from rural areas of Patna district, which have been witness to sporadic spurts and account for a significant part of the districts tally that has been the highest in the state and now stands close to 900. Significant number of cases were also reported on the day from Gopalganj, Nalanda, Vaishali and Bhagalpur districts.

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All 38 districts in the state have reported Covid-19 cases and the worst affected ones, besides Patna, are Bhagalpur (515), Madhubani (479), Begusarai (459) and Siwan (438).

However, the health department insisted that notwithstanding the galloping of the virus across the state, Bihar was doing well with a recovery rate that was significantly higher than the national average and a low death rate. The state boasts of a recovery rate of 76.92 per cent as against the national average of under 60 per cent.

A total of 7,994 Covid-19 patients have recovered. The state has about 2,500 active cases now.

Officials pointed out that the spurt could partly be attributed to a spruced up testing system. More than 7,000 samples were tested in the last 24 hours. The total number of tests conducted so far stood at 1.35 lakh.