COVID-19 death toll touches 500-mark in Bihar; tally crosses

The COVID-19 death toll in Bihar touched the 500-mark on Friday after 16 people succumbed to the disease, while the overall tally soared past 98,000 as over 3,900 fresh cases were reported, a health department bulletin said.

The COVID-19 death toll in Bihar touched the 500-mark on Friday after 16 people succumbed to the disease, while the overall tally soared past 98,000 as over 3,900 fresh cases were reported, a health department bulletin said. The state also conducted 1.21 lakh tests in the past 24 hours, compared with 1,04 lakh on the previous day and 92,414 on the day before.

The number of fresh cases was 3,911 and the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state stood at 98,370, the bulletin said. The death toll reached 500 on account of 16 casualties reported in the last 24 hours. Of them, three each were registered in Patna and Vaishali, two each in Muzaffarpur and East Champaran and one each in Buxar, Darbhanga, Gaya, Kaimur, Nalanda and Sheikhpura districts.

Patna accounts for the maximum number of 94 casualties till date, followed by Bhagalpur (40), Gaya (32), Rohtas (26), Munger and Nalanda (23 each) and Muzaffarpur and Vaishali (21 each). The remaining 220 fatalities were reported from several other districts. Patna has also reported 15,868 coronavirus cases so far, a tally way higher than of any of the remaining 37 districts. North Bihar district of Muzaffarpur (3,981) now occupies the second spot, having outnumbered Bhagalpur (3,920).

The north Bihar town, from which the district derives its name, is all set to have a make-shift 500-bed dedicated COVID hospital by the end of this month. "The tented hospital will come up near the airport at Patahi. It will be equipped with 150 ventilators. It is expected to become functional by August 29," Muzaffarpur District Magistrate Chandrashekhar Singh told PTI.

He said that the site was chosen by a team of Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) team which toured the district for the purpose last month. The state also has a healthy recovery rate of 66.39 per cent and altogether 65,307 people have so far waged a successful battle against the dreaded coronavirus.

The mortality rate, at less than one per cent, is also way below the national average. Meanwhile, the opposition Congress joined its senior alliance partner RJD in questioning the Nitish Kumar governments claims of a drastic rise in testing rate in the recent past.

"The queer phenomenon of only about 4,000 people testing positive while the number of samples tested is one lakh or more, points towards jugglery with statistics which could put peoples lives in danger," AICC media panellist and Legislative Council member Prem Chandra Mishra said in a statement. "The number of fresh cases remaining stable in the face of a manifold rise in the number of tests raises many doubts. It gives rise to suspicions that figures are being manipulated to ensure that Assembly polls are not delayed.

This is tantamount to criminal negligence," Mishra alleged. He also charged the government with not taking into account COVID-19 deaths taking place at private hospitals in order to keep the state's casualty figure low.

Similar doubts have been raised by the RJDs Tejashwi Yadav, the leader of the opposition in the state Assembly.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)