Bihar reports 6,413 fresh cases, biggest one-day spike in 9 months

Bihar on Wednesday registered 6,413 fresh COVID-19 cases, the highest single-day spike in the last nine months, with the tally rising to 7,62,461, a health department bulletin said.

The death toll increased to 12,114 as three more persons, including a 14-year-old girl, succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours, it said.

Three fresh fatalities were reported from All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna.

"All those who died in the past 24 hours, were suffering from several serious complications. When their samples were tested, they turned out to be COVID-19 positive," a senior official of the state health department said.

Patna logged 2,014 fresh cases, 188 less than the previous day, and the number of active cases in the state capital now stands at 13,375.

The state had on Tuesday reported 5,908 new cases.

"The Wednesday's spike in fresh infections is the highest in the state in the last nine months. The state had reported 6,133 new cases on April 16, 2021," the official said.

Bihar now has 28,659 active cases, and 7,21,684 people have recovered from the disease so far.

The recovery rate declined to 94.65 per cent from 95.08 per cent on Tuesday, the bulletin said.

Muzaffarpur currently has 1,329 active cases, followed by Gaya (1,164), Begusarai (729) and Saran (697).

Altogether 6.28 crore samples have been tested so far, including 1.80 lakh in the last 24 hours, and the positivity ratio is at 3.55 per cent, up from 3.14 per cent the previous day.

The state has so far accounted for only one case of the new Omicron variant.

Meanwhile, the Bihar government had on Monday started administering booster doses to healthcare and frontline workers and senior citizens with comorbidities.

"Around 28,917 booster doses were administered to the people on Wednesday," the official added.