India News | Bihar: COVID-19 Death Toll Reaches 269; Case Tally Climbs to 43,591

Patna, Jul 28 (PTI) The COVID-19 tally in Bihar shot up by 2,480 on Tuesday, taking the total number of cases in the state to 43,591, while the death toll mounted to 269, the state health department said here.

The department, however, said the surge in the number of infections was on account of previous days' cases which were added to the system on Tuesday.

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The state reported 14 fresh deaths, taking the count of fatalities to 269.

The new principal secretary of the Health department, Pratayaya Amrit, took charge during the day.

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He swung into action and was seen visiting COVID-19 wards at the Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH) here in a PPE kit.

The Bihar government had on Monday removed incumbent Principal Secretary, Health, Uday Singh Kumawat.

Amrit, a 1991-batch IAS officer, is the third to occupy the position since COVID-19 ripped through the state.

Among the new casualties, three deaths each were reported from Nalanda and Gaya, followed by two each in Patna and Begusarai, while one death each was confirmed from Aurangabad, Munger, Nawada and Lakhisarai, the department said in its bulletin.

Patna has, so far, recorded the highest number of 41 COVID-19 deaths.

Districts which have reported more than 10 deaths are Bhagalpur (26), Gaya (17), Nalanda (15), Rohtas (13), Muzaffarpur, Munger (11 each), Darbhanga, Begusarai and Samastipur (10 each).

State capital Patna also tops the list in terms of number of confirmed cases at 7,481. Its tally shot up by more than 414 since the previous day.

Other badly affected districts include Bhagalpur (2,335 cases), Muzaffarpur (1,943), Gaya (1,819), Nalanda (1,745), Rohtas (1,695), Begusarai (1,497) and Siwan (1,341).

Recovery rate in the state was 67.03 per cent. Out of 43,591 positive cases, 29,220 people have recovered, 1,376 of them since Monday. Besides, there are 14,101 active cases in the state.

The number of tests has increased to 16,275 from Monday's 14,236, while the total number of samples tested till date was 4.86 lakh.

Meanwhile, Patna Divisional Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Agarwal said COVID testing facility has been made available at all primary health centres of six districts falling under the division.

The number of tests has increased to 5,970 from 2,400 in just a week's time, he said, while asking the district magistrates to maintain the progress.

Agarwal and Patna District Magistrate Kumar Ravi inaugurated a home isolation control room at the district registration and counselling centre here.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)