PATNA: Bihar on Thursday began door-to-door screening of people for the detection of coronavirus symptomatic persons in the four worst-hit districts on the pattern of pulse polio campaign.
Around 8,000 teams consisting of 20,000 doctors and health workers have been engaged in the exercise in Nalanda, Begusarai, Nawada and Siwan districts.
The rest of the districts would be covered in the next phase, state health minister Mangal Pandey told reporters, adding, the screening would help the state in tracking as well as tracing the symptomatic coronavirus patients without anyone left unattended.
The state reported four fresh positive cases on the day taking the total count to 74. Meanwhile, eight patients including five women, who had tested positive 14 days ago, were discharged from Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH) following their recovery.
Among the recovered patients, six are from Siwan who belong to one family comprising five women and one elderly person. The rest are from Gaya and Gopalganj. They thanked the medical personnel while getting discharged from the hospital and advised the people not to be panicked but adopt precautionary measures with a high level of confidence and positivity.
Bihar has so far reported 74 cases and one death due to COVID-19. "Out of 74 cases, 37 patients have recovered and 34 are being treated for the infection," principal secretary, health, Sanjay Kumar said.
The state has attained 51.39% recovery rate and is in third place in the country after Kerala and Chhattisgarh. In terms of death rate, the state holds the fifth position after Kerala, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Jammu and Kashmir with only 1.39% of fatality", Kumar added.