Ranchi, Apr 30 (PTI) Jharkhand reported a record 149 COVID-19 deaths in a single day, pushing the toll to 2,395, while the tally climbed to 2,21,489 with 8,075 fresh cases, a health department official said on Friday.

The state now has 54,816 active cases, following the recovery of 1,64,278 patients, he said.

State capital Ranchi reported the maximum number of new fatalities at 46, followed by East Singhbhum (23), Koderma (11), Ramgarh and Dhanbad (9 each). The remaining deaths were recorded from several other districts.

Former state BJP president Laxman Giluwa, who had tested positive for COVID-19 recently, died at a hospital in Jamshedpur on Thursday. He was 57.

Of the fresh cases, 1,771 were registered in Ranchi, 852 in East Singhbhum, 582 in Hazaribagh and 478 in Lohardaga.

The state conducted 70,757 sample tests for coronavirus infection in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Thursday received the first dose of the COVID vaccine and appealed to the people to get inoculated.

He had said the state government would provide COVID- 19 vaccine to people above 18 years of age for free.

Soren's statement came after the Centre announced a "liberalised'' policy making all above 18 years of age eligible to get inoculated from May 1 and allowing state governments and private hospitals to purchase vaccines from manufacturers.

(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)