Coronavirus fatalities ebb in Jharkhand, 831 fresh cases reported

Jharkhand reported 14 new COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday, continuing with the declining trend of fatalities, even as 831 more people tested positive, a health department bulletin said.

The death toll rose to 4,991, while the coronavirus tally stood at 3,37,774, it said.

The state had reported 19 deaths on Monday and 13 fatalities the day before, the lowest in a single day last month.

No one succumbed to the virus since Monday in 19 of the 24 districts of the state, including Bokaro, Deoghar, Dhanbad, Dumka, Giridih, Hazaribag and West Singhbum, the bulletin said.

Jharkhand now has 8,907 active cases, while 3,23,876 patients have recovered from the disease.

Altogether, 84,84,836 samples have been tested for COVID-19 in Jharkhand, including 50,338 since Monday, it added.

The state has sought the Centre's intervention, including free vaccines, to tide over the crisis and has also ordered a death audit in five districts witnessing high fatalities.

Chief Minister Hemant Soren in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed the mandate for states to procure medicines as against cooperative federalism.

"This is probably for the first instance in the history of independent India that the states have been mandated to procure vaccines on their own," he said.

Since the advent of the second wave of COVID-19, the death rate in the state increased from 0.9 per cent to 1.46 per cent, as several districts reported high number of fatalities.

In a bid to curb the spread of the virus, the state government has extended the lockdown till June 3.