Five BMP jawans among 29 test Covid positive; Bihar’s tally reaches 579

This is the first reported case of police personnel testing positive for the virus in the state

Five jawans of the Bihar Military Police (BMP) tested positive for Covid late on Friday, taking the total number of cases in the state to 579.

Army jawans arrive by a special train at Danapur railway station in Patna. (HT FILE)

This is the first reported case of police personnel testing positive for the virus in the state. The BMP jawans were among 29 people who contracted Covid-19 in the state on Friday.

All the infected jawans are from Patna’s Khajpura locality, which is among the 15 containment zones in the state capital. The jawans are aged 30, 36, 50, 52 and 57 years.

“We are ascertaining their infection trail,” said Bihar’s principal secretary, health, Sanjay Kumar in a late evening tweet at around 10.25pm on Friday. Further details are awaited.

Meanwhile, six other cases have been reported from Samastipur, four cases each from Darbhanga and Khagaria, two from Saharsa and one each from Supaul, Katihar, East Champaran, Bhagalpur, Banka, Nalanda, Nawada and Begusarai districts. The virus had now spread to 36 of Bihar’s 38 districts as the virus spread its footprints to Saharsa, Supaul and Khagaria districts on Friday.

There was a spike on Friday after 11 cases were reported on May 4, seven each on May 5 and 6 and eight on May 7. Sixteen people to have tested positive — of which six were from Samastipur and four from Khagaria — had come from outside the state, and were in quarantine since their arrival, said Kumar in a tweet.

The 16 Covid-19 cases are believed to be migrant workers who were stranded in different parts of the country and returned to Bihar between May 1 and 7.

Around, 62,274 migrant workers have returned to Bihar in 53 special trains during this period, said Anupam Kumar, secretary, information and public relations department.

Meanwhile, 23 Covid-19 patients, undergoing treatment at the Nalanda Medical College Hospital in Patna and different facilities at Rohtas, recovered on Friday.

“A total of 49 Covid-19 patients have recovered and been discharged within last 24 hours from different health facilities across the state, taking the total number of Covid-19 patients to have recovered to 267. Bihar’s case recovery rate is 47%,” said health secretary Lokesh Kumar Singh.

Buxar accounted for 26 recoveries, followed by Rohtas (12), Nalanda (5), Munger (4) and Patna (2), he added.

Madhepura, Gaya and Vaishali were Bihar’s three districts where all Covid-19 patients had been cured, added Singh.

Meanwhile, the door-to-door survey was completed in 20 districts — Araria, Arwal, Banka, Begusarai, Bhojpur, Buxar, Gaya, Gopalganj, Jamui, Khagaria, Lakhisarai, Madhepura, Nalanda, Nawada, Rohtas, Saharsa, Saran, Sheikhpura, Siwan and Vaishali — claimed Kumar through a tweet.

Of the 1.86 crore houses surveyed, the government claimed it reached out to over 10.34 crore people to ask them about influenza-like illness or respiratory distress, which were associated with coronavirus symptoms.

Munger topped with 102 of Bihar’s 579 Covid-19 cases across 36 districts. It was followed by Buxar (56), Rohtas (54), Patna (52), Nalanda (37), Siwan (32), Kaimur (31), Madhubani (24), Gopalganj, Bhojpur (18 each), Aurangabad, Bhagalpur, Begusarai (14 each), Katihar (12), West Champaran (11), East Champaran (10), Darbhanga (9), Saran (8), Samastipur (7), Gaya, Sitamarhi (6 each), Arwal, Jehanabad, Nawada (5 each), Lakhisarai, Banka (4 each), Vaishali, Sheohar (3 each), Madhepura, Araria, Purnea, Saharsa (2 each), Sheikhpura, Kishanganj, Supaul, Khagaria (1 each).