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Jharkhand HRD minister tests positive for Covid-19, state tally to cross 80k
The minister was moved to Ranchi’s Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) for treatment after he complained of health complications.
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Jharkhand’s human resource development (HRD) minister Jagarnath Mahto tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday. This comes when state Covid-19 tally is all set to cross the 80,000-mark.
The minister was moved to Ranchi’s Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) for treatment after he complained of health complications. Taking to Twitter, Mahto shared that he tested positive for the virus.
“My Covid-19 test report returned positive. I got myself admitted at RIMS for treatment. I appeal those who came in my contact in recent times to get themselves tested,” said Mahto.
Mahto, a Jharkhand Mukti Morcha legislator from Dumri assembly constituency, is the fourth minister in chief minister Hemant Soren’s cabinet to have tested positive for the disease. Earlier, cabinet ministers Mithilesh Thakur, Banna Gupta and Badal Patralekh had contracted the disease and successfully recovered from it.
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With Mahto’s addition, over 22 percent of the current 79-member Jharkhand assembly tested positive for the respiratory disease so far. Till now, 18 legislators including four cabinet ministers tested positive. However, a majority of them have recovered from the disease.
According to state health department’s bulletin released on Monday morning, Jharkhand reported 974 new Covid-19 cases from across the state in the last 24 hours that pushed the tally close to the 80,000-mark. The state also witnessed the death of nine Covid-19 patients.
With the discovery with these cases, the tally climbed to 79,909 cases including 12,433 active cases, 66,797 recoveries and 679 deaths.
Since August 25, the state has been reporting more than 1,000 cases with exceptions on September 11 and 27 when 961 and 974 cases were detected.
State capital Ranchi, which topped the list of Covid-19 cases, is all set to cross the 18,000-mark on Monday. It had reported 214 cases in the last 24 hours that pushed the district’s tally to 17,985 including 4,015 active cases, 13,865 recoveries and 105 fatalities.
