The rising number of cases in urban areas are a cause for concern, with seven coronavirus cases being reported in Chas and Bokaro townships in the past 12 days.

More than 100 people were listed for contract tracing. However, the majority of them tested negative later.

In wake of emerging cases in the township, public sector undertakings (PSU) and other industries have asked their employees and contract workers to follow all precautions.

However the majority of the persons detected Covid-19 positive had a travel history of coming from other states.

The district health department has intensified screening and sample collection to contain viruses.

There have been five micro-containment zones set up in town, three in Bokaro Township and two in Chas.

Deputy commissioner Mukesh Kumar has appealed to residents to stay indoors, maintain social distancing, keep washing hands with soap and to wear masks outdoors.

The dedicated Covid ward of Bokaro General Hospital (BGH) has 11 active cases. All of them are asymptomatic.

Two persons, including a resident of Chas and Sector-9, have been released from BGH after their test reports came negative on Wednesday. Sub-divisional officer, Chas, Shashi Prakash Singh, encouraged both of them by giving flowers and a certificate of recovery.

Pathak instructed them to stay home for at least 14 days after going home from the hospital.

A doctor in BGH said, “The recovery rate of the corona-positive patients is very good. Those at present admitted in the ward are stable.”

The district, since March, has registered 50 corona-positive cases.

The health department has collected and sent 7,240 samples for tests, of which 6,123 reports have been received.

There are about 1,007 reports pending, said an officer.

Meanwhile, an 89-year-old woman detected Covid-19 positive three days after her death on Tuesday.

She had come from Delhi by train to Katras in Dhanbad to attend a marriage function. Suffering from fever and breathing problems, she was admitted to Neelam Hospital in Chas, where she died. Sanitisation was carried out at the hospital. “While 29 health workers of Neelam Hospital have been sent to institutional quarantine, all the patients then admitted in this hospital have been quarantined in Sadar Hospital,” said Dr A.K. Pathak, civil surgeon, Bokaro.