Bihar reports 8th Covid death, state tally touches 1,284

A 55-year-old resident of Khagaria who returned from Mumbai, died due to coronavirus on May 15, in what was the first reported death of a migrant labourer due to

A 55-year-old resident of Khagaria who returned from Mumbai, died due to coronavirus on May 15, in what was the first reported death of a migrant labourer due to Sars-CoV-2 in the state, and the eighth so far to the virus in Bihar, as the number of cases swelled to 1,284, after 106 people tested positive for the pandemic Sunday.

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Patna reported a sharp spike in case, after 57 people, including 21 police personnel of the Bihar Military Police (BMP-14) tested positive from Khajpura locality. Two others reported positive from RPS More and one each from Agamkuan and Patel Nagar localities in the heart of the state capital. Seventeen other cases were reported from Barh, 12 from Athmalgola, two from Belchhi and one from Fatuha, satellite townships of Patna.

Besides Patna, other cases were reported from Madhubani (16), Rohtas (14), Muzaffarpur (5), Arwal, Buxar, East Champaran (3 each), Kaimur (2) and one each from Sitamarhi, Nalanda and Saran.

Among those testing positive from Patna on Sunday were two nurses — one each of the Nalanda Medical College Hospital (NMCH) and another from the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS), said Dr Ajay Kumar Sinha, medical nodal officer, NMCH.

Among frontline health workers, a doctor from Nalanda, six health personnel, including four nurses from the IGIMS, and two nurses from the NMCH have so far tested positive for Covid-19, said sources.

The health department, despite persistent requests, had, however, not provided a breakup of frontline healthworkers testing positive for Sars-CoV-2 in the state so far.

As for the migrant’s death, Bihar’s principal secretary, health, Sanjay Kumar shared the information through a tweet on Sunday, even as health secretary Lokesh Kumar Singh did not mention about it at the customary government briefing on Sunday.

The deceased, who was initially taken to the block quarantine centre at the Sharda Gayatri College, Maheshkoot, after reaching Khagaria from Mumbai via Saharsa on May 13, had complained of breathlessness the following day. He was rushed to the referral hospital, Gogri, within two hours of complaining about breathlessness to the medical team on May 14. He even showed signs of recovery, but passed away in the wee hours of May 15, said the doctor’s death report that Kumar had shared through a tweet.

The doctor mentioned “cardio-pulmonary arrest” as the cause of death.

Diabetic for the past two years, the deceased and his wife were tested for Covid-19 and both were found to be positive on May 16. The deceased had travelled with his wife and grandson by a Shramik Special train from Mumbai on May 11.

“The man had shared space with 15 persons at the block quarantine centre. All of them will now be tested for Covid-19. The place is being sanitized,” said Khagaria district magistrate Alok Ranjan Ghosh.

Ninety-nine samples of the 2,066 tested among the 3.53 lakh migrants at block quarantine centres had tested positive for Covid-19. Around 4.8% of the migrants have tested positive as compared to their samples tested (2,066), based on a set pattern of testing, said Singh.

A total of 481 migrant workers of whom 423 had returned to the state after May 3, had so far tested positive for coronavirus, Singh had said on Saturday.

Around 2.60% people in the state had tested positive for the virus so far as compared to the total samples (45,752) tested so far, he added.

The recent spike in the number of positive cases of the virus was due to testing of migrants, contacts of Covid-19 cases and people who were symptomatic, added Singh.

Over four lakh migrant workers from different parts of the country had reached Bihar by 272 Shramik Special trains so far this month. Another 438 special trains are in the pipeline to get all migrants who wanted to return to their home state, said Anupam Kumar, secretary, information and public relations department, during the media briefing.

He said the figures on the total count of migrants expected to come to Bihar by these trains were being calculated.

Forty-three trains, carrying 69,650 passengers had been planned to reach Bihar on Monday. Of them, eight pairs of trains would ply within the state from Kaimur, Gopalganj and Danpaur, he added.

Meanwhile, 22 Covid-19 patients had recovered during the past 24 hours and discharged from different health facilities, taking the total number of people to have been cured from the disease so far in the state to 475.

As of Sunday, Patna had surpassed Munger (125 cases) and topped with 163 cases. Rohtas reported 91 cases, followed by Nalanda (68), Buxar (62), Begusarai (54), Madhubani (69), Siwan (45), Khagaria (43), Kaimur (36), Bhagalpur (38), Bhojpur (36), Nawada (35), Banka, Gopalganj (32 each), Purnea (29), Jehanabad (27), West Champaran (25), Aurangabad (22), Sheikhpura (21), Muzaffarpur (25), Kaitihar (17), Darbhanga, Madhepura (16), East Champaran (19), Samastipur (15), Lakhisarai (14), Saharsa (13), Arwal (15), Jamui, Kishanganj (12 each), Supaul, Vaishali, Saran (11 each), Gaya (8), Sitamarhi (8), Araria, Sheohar (4 each) till the time of filing of this report.