Coronavirus has spread to all 24 districts of Jharkhand by Saturday, coinciding with the highest single-day spike in the state with the detection of 72 new positive cases including a migrant in a Sahibganj jail, the first for the district.
The disease entered Jharkhand’s only green zone Sahibganj district after a 22-year-old migrant worker, who had returned from Punjab’s Jalandhar, tested positive Saturday late night.
“The patient has been languishing at an isolation centre at Rajmahal sub-jail since May 14 and was found asymptomatic,” said Sahibganj deputy commissioner Varun Ranjan.
He added, “The patient, along with his two friends, was put up in the district’s quarantine centre at Uddhwa after their return from Jalandhar on May 12. The very next day, they entered into a brawl and assaulted some police personnel guarding the quarantine centre. All the three were then arrested and sent to jail following registration of an FIR.”
The deputy commissioner said that the patient was being shifted to Covid-19 prisoner ward, especially set up at the jail hospital and all measures were being taken to keep a strict vigil on this patient.
Interestingly, a swab sample of the patient was taken on May 15 and the confirmatory test report came after a fortnight, a period in which many young asymptomatic Covid-19 patients recover from the disease.
{{/usCountry}}Interestingly, a swab sample of the patient was taken on May 15 and the confirmatory test report came after a fortnight, a period in which many young asymptomatic Covid-19 patients recover from the disease.
{{/usCountry}}The HT Guide to Coronavirus COVID-19
“Since the test samples were taken 15-day ago and the patient is still asymptomatic, we hope that he has recovered by this time and the report of his next sample test turns negative,” said the DC, who made an inspection of the jail premises on Sunday.
He informed that all other 10 people, who were in contact with the accused patient in the isolation ward, including his two friends, have been separated and put in a different quarantine centre inside the jail.
The state has seen a sharp rise in the number of cases since May 1, when Shramik special trains started ferrying stranded migrant workers. Jharkhand, then had only 113 Covid-19 cases spread over 12 out of 24 districts with Ranchi alone accounted for 83 cases.
But as the month ends, the pandemic has now gripped the entire state and the number of positive cases has seen a 337% rise to reach 494 cases till Sunday morning. The state also reported 256 recoveries and five deaths.
The state’s five districts--Deoghar, Jamtara, Godda, Dumka and Chatra-- have so far reported less than five Covid-19 cases and currently have no active patients.
The worst affected districts due to influx of migrant workers are East Singhbhum, Hazaribag and Garhwa, which have reported 96, 69 and 59 positive cases respectively.