Covid curve careens in Bihar, highest spike in a day caps the week

The new cases reported Sunday pushed Bihar’s tally to 16,305, of which over 3,000 were recorded over the last one week.

The Covid curve in Bihar, which stayed the somewhat gentle upward course till the month of May as compared to some other states, spiralled ominously over the last one week, which saw two sharp single-day spikes and ended with the highest ever single-day spike on Sunday that recorded 1,266 positive cases across the state.

A police personnel scans the body temperature of a visitor at the entrance of Bihar Military Police (BMP) campus, in Patna, Bihar, Sunday, July 12, 2020. (Santosh Kumar / HT Photo)

The new cases reported Sunday pushed the state’s tally to 16,305, of which over 3,000 were recorded over the last one week.

There was no relief in capital Patna, which reported 177 fresh infections on Sunday, when it entered the third day of its latest lockdown.

Seven more deaths reported Sunday from different hospitals, meanwhile, took the Covid-19 toll in the state to 144, although the official figure, as mentioned in the bulletin released by the state health department on its Twitter handle on Sunday, stood at 125.

The discrepancy flows from the time lag between the health department’s bulletin and daily figures released by hospitals, which come hours later.

State’s health secretary Lokesh Kumar Singh, however, underlined the brighter side, of the rise in the recovery rate. “In the last 24 hours, 962 patients have recovered, pushing the recovery rate to 72.31%,” he said, adding that 11,953 patients had recovered so far.

As per the health department, two deaths were reported from Darbhanga, one each from Begusarai, Muzaffarpur, Nalanda, Patna and Siwan.

Three of these deaths were reported from Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH) in Patna. “Two patients from Patna, with comorbidity of heart disease, diabetes and hypertension respectively, died on Sunday, while the other of Bhabua having asthma passed away at the hospital today,” said Dr Mukul Kumar Singh, nodal officer for Covid-19 at the hospital.

The health secretary, meanwhile, said Patna has so far reported 1,868 cases, the highest in Bihar, followed by 996 in Bhagalpur and 734 in Begusarai.

Patna district magistrate Kumar Ravi said the state capital had 90 containment zones, which included 20 in Patna City, 34 in Patna Sadar, 21 in Danapur, eight in Paliganj 8 and 7 in Masaurhi.

Meanwhile, a top functionary of the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS), who tested positive, was admitted to the intensive care unit at the AIIMS-Patna, after being referred there on Saturday evening. Unlike AIIMS and the NMCH, the IGIMS is not a dedicated Covid hospital.

The senior faculty member had come in contact with his driver who was found to be positive early this month.

One of the IGIMS superintendents, who was in home quarantine, has tested negative the second time.

The reports of 17 nurses, who had come in contact with an infected patient at Indira Gandhi Institute of Cardiology (IGIC), were still awaited. “We were expecting reports on Sunday, but the virology lab of PMCH has not delivered them,” said OP Sah, joint director-cum-nodal officer, Covid-19, IGIC.

Hot spots

Patna: 1,868 cases

Bhagalpur: 996 cases

Begusarai: 734 cases

Cases break-up

The twitter handle of health department while giving of break-up of 1,266 cases said besides 177 patients reported in Patna, Siwan had 98 cases, Bhagalpur 81, Nalanda 78, 76 each in Begusarai and Nawada, Muzaffarpur 72, Munger 61, West Champaran 54, Saran 47, Katihar 46, Bhojpur 40, Vaishali 36, Gaya 34, 29 each in Lakhisarai and Rohtas, Buxar 27, Samastipur 24, Gopalganj 22, Aurangabad 21, 14 each in Araria and Jehanabad, 13 each in East Champaran and Sitamarhi, 11 each in Arwal, Khagaria and Sheikhpura, Supaul 10, Jamui 9, Purnia 7, 6 each in Madhepura and Madhubani, Sahara 5, Banka 4, Sheohar 3 and Dhanbad 1 (sample collected at Gaya).

The highest case of 749 last time was detected on July 8.