Covid: Daily cases hit 73-day low, zero deaths in Jharkhand

NEW DELHI: Jharkhand became the first state in the country outside the northeast to report zero daily deaths from Covid-19 in at least the last 50 days, even as the country on Saturday recorded the lowest number of fresh cases since March 31.
The daily toll in the state had touched 159 at the height of the second wave on May 1. India reported 80,627 new cases on Saturday, the lowest daily count in 73 days since 71,747 infections were recorded on March 31, as per TOI’s Covid database.
The day’s death toll too dropped below 1,700 to 1,698, the lowest since April 19.
This does not include 1,606 deaths from earlier days added to the overall toll by Maharashtra. The state added nearly 15,000 ‘backlog’ deaths since May 17.
Odisha reported its highest daily toll so far of 47. Even as around 800 deaths in the state are yet to be scrutinised to ascertain whether these were due to Covid, there has been a comparative rise in the daily reports of fatalities for the past few days owing to the speedy audit of pending cases, government authorities said.