The total number of COVID-19 cases in Bihar soared to 1,987 on Thursday, when 211 people tested positive for the coronavirus, as the health department declared a 55-year-old man, who died at a hospital two days ago, as the state's tenth fatality due to the disease.
According to State Epidemiologist Ragini Mishra, the deceased belonged to Khagaria district and died at the Sadar hospital in Begusarai.
"His test reports came late Wednesday night, confirming he was infected with the coronavirus," she said.
The district's health society programme convenor Shailesh Chandra said the cause of the death was cardiac arrest.
The state has previously witnessed deaths of nine COVID 19 patients two each from Patna and Vaishali and one each from Munger, East Champaran, Sitamarhi, Rohtas and Khagaria.
Meanwhile, the state health department said 211 people tested positive on Thursday, raising the state's total to 1,978.
The central Bihar district of Jehanabad reported the highest 50 cases, six of them females. Two girls aged 8 years and a 10-year-old boy were the youngest patients. The district's tally has now risen to 108.
Other districts reporting a significant number of cases were Samastipur (25), Katihar (19), Rohtas and Gopalganj (17 each), Gopalganj (16), Sheikhpura (13) and Buxar and East Champaran (11 each).
All the 38 districts in the state have reported COVID-19 cases and Patna, Munger, Rohtas, Jehanabad and Begusarai happen to be the worst affected, all of them having respective tallies in three digits.
The number of COVID-19 patients who have been discharged, upon full recovery, from isolation wards is 593, the state health department said.
More than 1,500 cases have been reported in the state since the beginning of this month, which has been attributed mainly to the large-scale influx of migrants who have been returning to Bihar in droves by Shramik Special trains and every other mode of transport available, many of them even on bicycles and on foot, much to the consternation of the government.
Till date, 999 migrants have tested positive for COVID 19, the state health department said, adding that most infected returnees have come from Delhi (296), Maharashtra (253), Gujarat (180), Haryana (66), West Bengal (58) and Rajasthan (34).
The number of samples tested so far is 55,692, an addition of more than 2,000 since the previous day. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been insistent upon raising the number of samples tested every day to 10,000 as Bihar braces for more arrivals of migrants.
More than seven lakh migrants are currently lodged at thousands of quarantine centres set up across the state at district, block and panchayat levels, said state Information and Public Relations Department secretary Anupam Kumar.
He also said that 85 special trains, carrying close to 1.40 lakh migrants, reached Bihar on the day and another 1.43 lakh are scheduled to arrive on Friday by 87 Shramik Specials.
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