Bihar is fast approaching the 3,000-mark in the number of coronavirus disease cases. On Monday, the state saw 163 fresh cases, which took the tally to 2,737, the state health officials said. However, the Union health ministry reported 2,730 cases in the state in its update on Tuesday morning.
The number of infection has seen a rapid rise in the recent past mainly on the account of the influx of migrant workers, the health department said.
The rate of infection in Bihar is 10.67 per cent, the highest in the country, according to data anlysis by Hindustan Times’ Hindi language publication Hindustan.
It took 12 days for the infection to double in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, 14 days in Delhi and just seven in Bihar, Hindustan further reported.
The number of migrants testing positive in Bihar since May 3 is 1,754, which is close to 80 per cent of the total number of cases reported during the period. Special trains carrying them from far and wide began reaching the state on May 2.
The majority of the infected migrants are those who returned from Delhi (411), Maharashtra (403), Gujarat (276), Haryana (146), Rajasthan (95), Uttar Pradesh (89), Telangana (81) and West Bengal (76), according to a break-up provided by the department.
Among the 163 cases reported on Monday, Patna district accounted for 11, which caused its tally to reach 211. Two of these were reported from Lodipur and Samanpura localities of the state capital, while the remaining were from rural areas of the district, the worst-hit in Bihar.
Significant numbers of cases were reported from districts like Begusarai, Katihar, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Katihar and Saharsa.
Bihar had reported 180 new cases of Covid-19 from 15 districts on Sunday.
Cases have been reported from all 38 districts of the state and nine of these – Patna, Rohtas, Begusarai, Munger, Madhubani, Katihar, Khagaria, Buxar and Jehanabad – have tallies in three-digits. Only Sheohar has reported less than 10 cases.
Death toll in the state is 13, with Patna, Vaishali and Khagaria accounting for two fatalities each and one death reported from Munger, Rohtas, Begusarai, East Champaran, Sitamarhi, Siwan and Saran districts each.