Six more test positive for COVID-19 in Bihar, total tally 176

Six more persons, including a 10-year-old boy, tested positive for COVID-19 in Bihar on Friday, taking the total number of such cases in the state to 176, a top official said. The fresh cases were reported from Munger district. Health Department's Principal Secretary Sanjay Kumar said new patients including the boy, two men and three women are residents of Sadar Bazar area of Jamalpur in Munger district. "This is a result of contact-tracing," he said.

Jamalpur has reported more than a dozen cases in the past one week, most of which were traced to a 60-year-old vegetable seller who had travelled to Nalanda district last month to attend a Tablighi Jamaat congregation. Munger has now 37 cases while Nalanda accounted for 31, making them the two worst affected in the state. Six patients from Munger have recovered from the disease and one has died, while Nalanda has 29 active cases. Out of 38 districts in the state, 18 have reported COVID-19 cases. Siwan (30) and Patna (24) also account for double digit figures. The total number of active cases in the state now stands at 130.

Two persons died of the disease while 44 have recovered. The number of samples tested so far in the state is 13,785 There has been a steep rise in the number of cases since Monday when the state's aggregate crossed the three-digit mark. Taking a serious note of the spike in the number of COVID-19 cases, the state health department issued a circular making it mandatory for people to wear face masks while travelling and visiting public places like food, vegetable and medicine shops, and dairies. Those failing to do so will be penalised as per provisions of the Bihar Epidemics Diseases, COVID-19 Regulations, it said.