Active Covid cases in Bihar cross 1 lakh mark, over 13,000 new patients added

PATNA: Reeling from the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the state added another 13,089 new cases, the second-highest so far, taking the active caseload to above one lakh. It has also registered the highest official deaths in a day so far, with 89 people succumbing to the virus taking the toll to 2,480.
The new cases recorded on Thursday are out of 97,972 samples tested in 24 hours, taking the positivity rate to 13.35% in Bihar.The number of samples tested in 24 hours till Wednesday was less than Wednesday's when 1,03,895 samples were tested.
Of the total, 28,592 samples tested through RT-PCR and 2,653 through TrueNat. Health department special secretary Manoj Kumar said there was a drop in the number of samples tested through RT-PCR as they were not doing pool testing because of the high positivity rate. He further said the department will install 100 TrueNat machines in various districts that can test 7,000 samples daily.
Most deaths on Thursday were in Patna where 26 people died after being infected with the virus, followed by 12 deaths in Bhagalpur, 10 in West Champaran. Deaths reported from some other districts are Nalanda (7), Muzaffarpur (5), Darbhanga (4) and Siwan (4).
The NMCH reported 12 deaths with 11 of them from the Patna district. The youngest deceased was a 19-year-old woman from Malsalami. While 32 patients got admitted, 29 discharged on Thursday, there are 366 patients in the hospital. NMCH further claimed that there were 134 vacant beds, though attendants cited problems in getting a bed in the hospital.
AIIMS-Patna reported six deaths, of which three were Patna residents. While 43 patients are under treatment, 37 got discharged, and as of Thursday, there were 309 patients in the hospital.
Of the total 13,098 new cases, Patna registered the maximum with 2,186 people testing positive, taking the caseload to 15,540. Among the other districts, Gaya recorded 1,128 cases, Begusarai (666) West Champaran (590), Muzaffarpur (509), Samastipur (499) and Purnia (483).
Meanwhile, altogether 87,188 beneficiaries were registered for the Covid-19 vaccine on Thursday, including 52,474 who got the first shot and 34,714 who got the second shot.