Seven more test positive for COVID-19 in Bihar, count rises to 93
Patna, Apr 19 () Seven more persons tested positive for COVID-19 in Bihar on Sunday, taking the total number of coronavirus cases in the state to 93, a top health department official said.
A 25-year-old man from Bhojpur district tested positive for the disease, Principal Secretary, Health Sanjay Kumar said, adding, "Contact-tracing of the patient is on."
Earlier in the day, six fresh cases, two from Buxar district and four from Nalanda district, were reported.
Two members of a family, a 28-year-old woman and a 30-year-old man, from Buxar tested positive for COVID-19, Kumar said.
"Both came in touch with a COVID-19 patient who had travelled to Asansol," he added.
Buxar District Magistrate (DM) Aman Samir said the woman and the man are family members of two men who had tested positive for coronavirus on April 16. All of them live together.
Earlier, the DM had said the two men, aged 35 and 67 years, had returned home on March 30 after taking part in a Tablighi Jamaat congregation in West Bengal's Asansol. They are believed to have picked up the infection from delegates at the congregation.
According to sources, the family hails from Buxar's Naya Bhojpur village.
Four others, aged 12, 18, 22 and 55 years, tested positive for coronavirus in Nalanda's Biharsharif, Kumar said.
The 55-year-old man had come in "close contact with a COVID-19 patient who had returned from Dubai," he added.
So far, the disease has claimed two lives in Bihar, one each in Munger and Vaishali districts.
Of the 93 cases in the state, Siwan district has reported the highest number of 29 cases, followed by Munger (17), Nalanda (11), Begusarai (nine), Patna (seven), Gaya (five), Buxar (four), Gopalganj and Nawada (three each), Lakhisarai, Saran, Bhagalpur, Vaishali and Bhojpur (one each), a state government bulletin said.
According to the state health department, 42 COVID-19 patients have recovered till date and two have died.
The number of active cases in Bihar stands at 49, it said.
A total of 10,130 samples have been tested in the state till date. AR CORR RG RC