With five fresh casualties, COVID-19 toll reaches 68 in Bihar

• The death toll due to COVID-19 in Bihar rose to 68 with five more fatalities in the last 24 hours, while the state's tally inched towards the 10,000-mark with 370 fresh cases reported on Tuesday, the health department said here.
• According to the daily bulletin issued by the department on coronavirus, the number of confirmed cases in the state has reached 9,988.
• The district has witnessed a steep hike in its tally in the last 10 days during which close to 100 people have tested positive in Paliganj sub-division alone.
  

The death toll due to COVID-19 in Bihar rose to 68 with five more fatalities in the last 24 hours, while the state's tally inched towards the 10,000-mark with 370 fresh cases reported on Tuesday, the health department said here. According to the daily bulletin issued by the department on coronavirus, the number of confirmed cases in the state has reached 9,988.

Two deaths were reported from Rohtas district while Patna, East Champaran and Gaya have accounted for one casualty each.

Details like comorbidities of the deceased or their time of deaths were not known.

Patna district now accounts for the maximum number of six casualties, and also tops the state in terms of the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. A total of 713 people have tested positive in the district so far.

The district has witnessed a steep hike in its tally in the last 10 days during which close to 100 people have tested positive in Paliganj sub-division alone.

District Magistrate Kumar Ravi has ordered an inquiry to ascertain whether there was violation of norms at a marriage ceremony that was held on June 15 in Deehpali village and which appears to have triggered the biggest infection chain in the state so far.

According to a release issued by the district administration, the sub-divisional officer of Paliganj has been asked to investigate as to whether measures like wearing of masks and social distancing were observed and the cap of 50 attendees was followed.

"If any violation comes to the fore, stern legal action will be taken against those responsible for the arrangements," said the release.

The groom, who was suffering from fever at the time of the wedding, died two days after the marriage. It was not known whether he was infected since his family members cremated the body without waiting for authorities to collect the samples.

Nonetheless, the administration tested samples of 259 people in the vicinity subsequently and 95 tested positive for COVID-19, said the release adding that eight containment zones have been set up in the affected areas.

COVID-19 cases have been reported from all 38 districts in the state and only two Jamui and Sheohar have respective tallies lower than 100. Besides Patna, other districts which have reported a high number of cases are Bhagalpur 494, Madhubani 456, Begusarai 421 and Siwan 412.

State Health Secretary Lokesh Kumar Singh said that a high number of fresh cases notwithstanding, Bihar's recovery rate of 77 per cent is significantly higher than the national average of 59 per cent.

He also said the state has succeeded in increasing its testing capacity and 8,231 samples were tested in the last 24 hours. The total number of samples tested till date was 2.20 lakh.