13 test positive for COVID-19 in Bihar, total count 126

Thirteen people tested positive for COVID-19 in Bihar on Tuesday, taking the total number of such cases to 126 in the state, a top health department official said.

Principal Secretary, Health, Sanjay Kumar said of the fresh cases, seven were reported from Munger district, four from Buxar and one each from Patna and Rohtas.

Contact-tracing of the patient from Rohtas, which has reported its first case, was on, while the remaining caught the contagion from COVID-19 patients in their respective districts, he added.

Other details of the patients were not immediately known.

Bihar had reported its first couple of coronavirus cases on March 22. However, nearly a quarter of the total number of cases so far in the state has been reported in the last 24 hours.

On Monday, 17 people from Bihar Sharif, the headquarters of Nalanda district, had tested positive for the dreaded virus.

Only 15 of the 38 districts in the state have reported COVID-19 cases. Siwan (29), Nalanda (28) and Munger (27) account for two-thirds of the coronavirus cases in Bihar.

Forty-two patients, one-third of the total number of cases so far, have recovered, while two patients have died.

The number of samples tested in the state till date is 11,999, Kumar said.