With 11 more deaths, Bihar’s Covid-19 toll rises to 198; cases breach 28k-mark

Of the five deaths at NMCH, two were from Patna and one each from Motihari, Rohtas and Saran, said Dr Mukul Kumar Singh, nodal officer for Covid-19 at the NMCH. All the deceased had co-morbid conditions.

The Bihar government decided to test all the people in high-risk containment zones as the number of Covid-19 cases rose to 28,564 after 1,109 new infections were reported on Tuesday , with 11 more deaths taking the state toll to 198.

A medic takes sample from a woman for Covid-19 testing at a collection centre in the campus of Gardiner Hospital, in Patna, Tuesday July 21, 2020. (Santosh Kumar / HT Photo)

Three deaths were reported from Patna, two each from Lakhisarai and Bhojpur and one each from Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur, Nalanda and Saran.

Five deaths were also reported from Nalanda Medical College Hospital (NMCH) and four from the AIIMS-Patna.

Of the five deaths at NMCH, two were from Patna and one each from Motihari, Rohtas and Saran, said Dr Mukul Kumar Singh, nodal officer for Covid-19 at the NMCH. All the deceased had co-morbid conditions.

Three of the four deaths at AIIMS were from Patna and one from Bhojpur, said Dr Sanjeev Kumar, nodal officer for Covid-19 at the institution.

Meanwhile, information and public relations department secretary Anupam Kumar said during the media briefing that the state has sufficient number of beds. “We have sufficient number of hospital beds and most of the infected patients are recovering, so there’s nothing to panic. If need be, we will increase the number of beds as we have sufficient capacity,” he said.

The government had decided to attach the Guru Gobind Singh hospital with the NMCH and the ESIC hospital in Bihta with the AIIMS in its endeavour to increase hospital beds for Covid-19 patients.

He said chief secretary Deepak Kumar, presiding over the core group meeting on Tuesday, had asked the health department to increase the number of hospital beds, with proper facility like oxygen supply and ventilator support.

He said health workers were monitoring the condition of asymptomatic Covid-19 positive patients who were in home isolation.

Kumar said the government had also decided to test all high risk group people, including senior citizens, those having co-morbidity and pregnant women, in containment zones.

Rapid Antigen testing launched in 38 districts

In an effort to ramp up testing, Bihar would move from target-based to demand-based testing. It initiated rapid antigen point of care (POC) test across all 38 districts on Tuesday, while committing itself to extend the facility to primary health centres by the end of this week.

“After having initiated testing at 25 facilities in Patna, besides using five mobile vans also, we will now begin testing in our five sub-divisional hospitals shortly,” said Patna district magistrate Kumar Ravi.

Asymptomatic Covid-19 patients, having facility to isolate themselves from other members of the family, are only being allowed home isolation, said Bihar’s health secretary Lokesh Kumar Singh during the joint media briefing. He said health workers are regularly monitoring their condition and shifting patients to Covid care centres if their condition deteriorates.

In addition to the three dedicated Covid-19 hospitals in the state — one each at Patna, Gaya and Bhagalpur— the government had also decided to allocate 100 beds in separate block at each of its other six hospitals in the state.

He said the government had laid down a referral protocol from district Covid care centres, where medium cases would be admitted to those in medical colleges. He also said health workers in district hospitals would be trained in management of Covid-19 cases by giving them oxygen.

Singh said 1,206 patients had recovered in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries to 18,741, with a recovery rate of 65.61%.

Meanwhile, the central team, which visited Bihar on Sunday, was critical of the unfettered movement in Rajeev Nagar locality, which was a buffer zone after the entire stretch between road numbers 1 and 22 had been marked as containment zone. The team, which found lack of police personnel and unhindered movement of public besides vegetable and fruit vendors in the area, called for better access control in containment zones.

Of the 2,584 containment zones in the state, Patna had 83. While 1,931 containment zones were in rural area, 653 were in urban areas.