Bihar: Judge among 19 dead due to Covid-19 in 24 hours; state testing numbers rise

A judge in Bihar was among those 19 persons who died here due to Covid-19 in the last 24 hours. The principal judge of Patna Civil Court, Harish Chandra Srivastava, was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)-Patna after he complained of breathlessness. He was put on the ventilator but his pulse rate and blood pressure kept fluctuating despite proper medication. “He passed away on Thursday evening,” said nodal officer, Covid-19, AIIMS-Patna, Dr Sanjeev Kumar.

This is the first death of any judge in Bihar. “Though many judges had earlier tested positive, but they recovered soon. Srivastava’s death is a major loss for us,” said Ajit Kumar Singh, secretary of the Bihar Judicial Services Association.

Recently, a BJP MLC Sunil Singh too died due to Covid-19 at AIIMS-Patna. A civil surgeon too had passed away the same day.

Meanwhile, with 3646 new cases reported in the state in the last 24 hours, the number of Covid-19 positive cases have now gone up to 71,794. This excludes 388 deaths so far. However, what is a matter of relief is the fact that 43,480 persons have recovered too.

RECORD TESTING

In yet another positive news, altogether 60,254 Covid-19 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, a record of sorts, compared to around 35,000 tests per day last week (and around 12,000 tests per day till mid-July). “The quantum jump in Covid-19 tests is due to consistent effort of the new Principal Secretary in the Health Department, Pratyaya Amrit,” admitted a senior doctor.

Meanwhile, fresh Covid-19 cases kept pouring in from the headquarters of Central Reserve Police Force in the state capital. Till Friday, around 100 persons, including a DIG, had tested positive there. A Superintendent of Police, posted in Jamui, has also tested Covid-19 positive.