The state health department managed to achieve only 20 per cent of its Covid testing target in the first two days of a three-day special drive conducted across Jharkhand, government data revealed on Saturday.

The Jharkhand government launched the three-day Covid testing drive on Friday, aiming to conduct at least 1 lakh Covid tests and detect asymptomatic cases from every nook and corner of the state.

However, in the first two days of the drive, the health department managed to conduct only 20,686 tests, which means that the state has achieved only 20 per cent of its target. With only one day left, achieving the target of conducting 1 lakh tests seems unlikely, sources said.

As many as 738 fresh cases of coronavirus infection surfaced in Jharkhand on Saturday, taking the total count of active cases in the state to 7,477, according to government data. More than 1,600 fresh Covid cases have surfaced in Jharkhand in the past 48 hours.

Saturday's findings take the total count of Covid cases in Jharkhand till date to 12,104 and the death toll due to the disease to 114, a bulletin released by the National Health Mission (NHM) said. At least four Covid patients, including two from Hazaribagh, died on Saturday, the bulletin added.

At least 170 patients recovered from the infection on Saturday, taking the count of recoveries in the state to 4513, the NHM bulletin stated. The Covid recovery rate in Jharkhand, however, stood at 37.28 per cent on Saturday, much lower than the national average of 64.43 per cent. Interestingly, Jharkhand had the fourth highest recovery rate in India in June.

Though the count of Covid casualties reached 114 on Saturday, the Covid mortality rate in the state dropped to 0.94 per cent, the NHM bulletin highlighted. Most of the Covid victims in the state, officials said, had comorbid conditions. However, some of the Covid victims in the state were in their early twenties, officials said.

The government has so far collected samples of 3.2 lakh people for Covid tests and tested around 3 lakh of them. Around 2.4 lakh people have been put in home quarantine across Jharkhand and nearly 6,000 have been sent to institutional quarantine.