Patna, Jul 26 (PTI) Bihar's COVID-19 death toll climbed to 249 on Sunday with 17 new fatalities, while the total caseload rose to 38,919 with 2,605 fresh instances of the disease reported in a day, a Health department bulletin said.

Of the fresh deaths, five were reported from Bhagalpur, followed by two each in Munger and West Champaran while one fatality each was registered in Patna, Aurangabad, Buxar, Kishanganj, Nalanda, Nawada, Samastipur and Sitamarhi, it stated.

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So far, Patna district has recorded the highest 37 COVID-19 deaths. Bhagalpur reported 25 deaths, Gaya 14, Rohtas 12, Muzaffarpur and Nalanda 11 each, Darbhanga, Munger and Samastipur 10 each.

Patna also tops the list of the number of COVID-19 cases with 6,514 infections. The district also accounts for 1,869 active cases.

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The total active cases in the state stood at 12,361.

Other badly affected districts include Bhagalpur with 2,243 cases, Muzaffarpur 1,691, Gaya 1,583, Nalanda 1,530, Rohtas 1,519, Begusarai 1,398, Siwan 1,264.

The recovery rate in the state was 67.60 per cent and till date 26,308 people have recuperated from COVID-19 with 1,788 of them in the last 24 hours.

The total number of samples tested till date was 4.56 lakh.

Two police sub-inspectors have died of COVID-19 infection, an official said.

Gajendra Kumar, a sub-inspector posted at Jehanabad police station, died of coronavirus infection, Jehanabad Civil Surgeon Dr Vijay Kumar Sinha said. Another SI, Vijay Kumar Tiwary, posted at Banka district's Amarpur police station also died of COVID-19.

Station House Officer (SHO) of Rajuan police station Niraj Kumar Tiwary has also tested positive for COVID-19.

Sixteen policemen, including the SHO of Kochadhaman police station, have also tested positive for COVID-19, Kochadhaman primary health centre in-charge Dr Ikramul Haque said.

(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)