State logs over 1k cases for first time this year; Ranchi positivity rate at 18%

While the state reported over 1000 fresh Covid-19 cases by Monday night for the first time after a gap of over six months, capital city Ranchi alone accounted for over half of these cases, registering an alarming positivity rate of 18%, meaning that out of every 100 samples tested, 18 returned positive, according to the state health department bulletin.

On April 5, Jharkhand discovered 1,086 new cases, of which 569 were unearthed in Ranchi alone. With this, the state’s tally climbed to 128,332 cases, including 121,310 recoveries, 5,882 active cases and 1,140 deaths.

The state capital has been reporting spiralling coronavirus cases since the outbreak of the pandemic’s second wave, besides reporting a positivity rate as high as Mumbai’s, indicating greater spread of the infection.

While Jharkhand reported an average 4.72% positivity rate in last seven days, the same for Ranchi shot up to 17.46% during this period.

This was the highest ever positivity rate recorded by any of the 24 districts in the state. During the peak of infection between August-September last year, Ranchi’s positivity rate stood between 10-12%.

Ranchi has so far reported 37,694 cases, including 34,160 recoveries, 3,264 active cases and 270 deaths.

Dr Dewesh Kumar, assistant professor of department of preventive and social medicine at Ranchi’s Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), said, “Districts with high urban population will always have high positivity rate due to overcrowding and high frequency of interstate movement of people.”

He added, “The rise in Covid-19 cases in Jharkhand and other states is due to the new mutant virus.” He , however, clarified that transmission of infection will be much higher this time.

Dr Kumar said, “The state is going to witness an increasing trend in growth of cases at least for a month. It is, therefore, important for everyone to strictly follow Covid protocol. Besides, vaccination is the only solution to break the chain.”

Considering the turbulent situation in Ranchi, the state health department and all district administrations were taking measures to check the spread of infection and improve medical facilities.

According to the health department’s data, Ranchi at present has four government-owned and 23 private hospitals for Covid-19 patients.

As on April 6, out of total 1,211 normal beds without oxygen support for asymptomatic patients, 215 were occupied. Out of a total of 556 beds with oxygen support for patients with moderate symptoms, 422 were occupied, while 205 ICU beds were filled out of the total 348. Regarding ventilator facility, 45 beds out total 166 beds were occupied.

However, many private hospitals in the city were running with full occupancy.

For effective management, the district administration has appointed circle officers as incident commanders for their respective circles. Any location from where a positive case is reported will be converted into a micro-containment zone to be controlled by the incident commander concerned.