Jamshedpur, Oct 21: Only 21 new cases of Covid-19 were reported in the city in the last 24 hours, a steep fall in numbers after days of high reportage. While the number of positive cases remained fluctuating between 50 and 60 per day during the past 10 days, however it reached a further low on Wednesday.
The number of deaths due to Covid has also come down considerably during this period as only one person died during the past 24 hours. A health official said that the Coronavirus positive cases are on the decline in the steel city and around from the past 10 days.
“We conducted samples of 2,200 suspected Coronavirus-infected people through rapid antigen tests across the district, including at steel city, but only 21 were tested positive. Despite the cases of Covid continuing to decline here, we are continuing more and more tests by reaching out to the people in the urban areas as well as the rural areas. We have set a target to sample 14,000 people through a rapid antigen test, the results of which will come late in the night,” said the official.
He noted that despite there being a sign of decline in the Covid cases, the department is taking extra care because Durga Puja has already started. The people are expected to come out in huge numbers for pandal hopping.
He went on to add that the administration has decided to test everyone in the district to prevent community spread of the disease. More tests would only help the administration to prevent further spread of the disease.
�Random tests were conducted at Sakchi market today. The positivity rate has also slowed down. People were motivated to undergo tests so that the spread can be controlled. During the tests drive, we have seen that people are scared to undergo tests. They need to understand the more we conduct tests the fear of spread will get normal,� said another health official.
The East Singhbhum district had its first Coronavirus positive case on May 12, exactly four months from now, when a 23-year-old girl and a 27-year-old youth from Chakulia were admitted at the Tata Main Hospital. Since May 12, the Coronavirus continued to spread across the East Singhbhum district and in six months has crossed the 15,000 mark.
