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Bihar reported its highest single-day spike in eight months on Friday when more than 6,500 people tested positive for COVID-19.
The death toll mounted to 12,121 as two more persons lost their lives to the infection.
According to the state health department, the number of fresh cases was 6,541 and the number of active cases has reached 34,089, a more than 300-fold increase since December 30 last when it was just 333.
The last time more than 6,500 cases were reported in a day was in May 2021 when the devastating second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak.
So far, 7,29,184 people have recuperated from the disease.
A rapid rise in incidence in the last few weeks notwithstanding, most infected people seem to be having mild to moderate symptoms.
The number of hospitalised patients is less than 300 and 33,702 are in home isolation.
The testing rate remains high. The number of samples taken for investigation in the last 24 hours is 1,82,377. To date, the Omicron variant has been confirmed in 27 patients.
The positivity rate has reached 3.58 per cent. Patna has the highest positivity rate for all 38 districts, at 21.66 per cent. It also accounts for more than one-third (13,927) of the state's active caseload.
Those who have tested positive in the last couple of weeks include Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, his deputies Tar Kishor Prasad and Renu Devi, many members of the cabinet, and assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha.
The surge has necessitated many restrictive measures, which include prohibitory orders, night curfew, curtailed business hours, and complete shutdown of schools, colleges, and coaching institutes.
Meanwhile, vaccination is going on in full swing. The number of doses administered to date is about 11.48 crore.
There has been perceptible enthusiasm among youngsters under 18 years of age for whom vaccination was rolled out on January 3. So far, more than 26 lakh minors have taken the jabs.
In addition, 1.88 lakh senior citizens have taken the "precaution dose".
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
