Jharkhand on Wednesday reported highest number of Covid recoveries in a day so far as over 1500 patients were discharged from hospital after testing negative for the viral infection and showing no symptoms associated to it, health officials said.

As per a bulletin released by the National Health Mission (NHM) on Wednesday late evening, as many as 1567 patients, including 285 in Godda and 274 in Dhanbad, recovered in 24 hours, taking the Covid recovery rate in state above 60 per cent.

However, the Covid tally in Jharkhand crossed the 20,000 mark on Wednesday as 679 more people tested positive for virus, the NHM bulletin stated.

Ranchi and East Singhbhum reported 119 and 117 fresh cases of infection respectively, while the number of recoveries stood at 156 in Ranchi and 111 in East Singhbhum, government data stated.

East Singhbhum, which has reported the highest number of Covid fatalities in state so far, reported five of eight deaths in Jharkhand on Wednesday. As per government figures, the district alone accounts for 78 of state's 202 Covid casualties.

Ranchi, the worst-affected district in Jharkhand, has reported 3799 cases of infection so far, while the tally in East Singhbhum stands at 3182.

Of the 20,257 cases of Covid infection in state, at least 12,197 have recovered, taking the recovery rate to 60.21 per cent. However, the Covid recovery rate in Jharkhand is still lower than the national average of 69.34 per cent.

The government has so far collected swab samples of around 4.08 lakh people and tested around 4.02 lakh of them. On Wednesday, health workers collected swab samples of 7138 people and tested 6272 of them, stated the NHM bulletin.

The Covid tally has crossed the 1000 mark only in Ranchi, East Singhbhum, Dhanbad and Giridih. The remaining 20 districts in Jharkhand have reported cases in triple digits so far. However, over 900 cases have surfaced in Hazaribag and more than 850 in Palamu.