Though Patna on Wednesday added a new coronavirus case after a gap of more than two weeks and Vaishali joined the list of districts with infected patients, Bihar still has a lot to cheer about.

With 37 patients recovered out of the total 72 Covid-19 cases recorded in Bihar, the state clearly has registered one of the best recovery rates of just over 51%. This apart, Bihar also has the lowest fatality rate of 1.38%, having registered just one death in 72 cases.

The rate, according to Bihar’s Principal Secretary Health Sanjay Kumar, takes Bihar among the top few states in India, which have proportionately performed better than others in curing Covid-19 cases. Not only this, barring the first Covid-19 case, none of the remaining 71 cases in Bihar required ventilator support till now.

That 61 of the total 72 cases registered in Bihar fall are under 40 years of age could also be a reason of better recovery rate in the state. Among the 72 Covid-19 patients in Bihar, 18 are in the 10-20-year age group, 22 in the 21-30 year age group, 21 in the 31-40 year group, five in the 41-50 year group, four in the 51-60 year age group and two in the age bracket of 61 years and above. Those who have recovered from Covid-19 in Bihar have a median age of 31.

According to doctors, the major reason behind having a better recovery rate is early detection of the cases. Most of the patients started receiving treatment in the early stages of their infection, which is why they responded well.

Doctors included Azithromycin, HCQ (hydroxychloroquine), cough syrup and B-complex (vitamin B) in their treatment of the infected patients.

Bihar has seen 72 Covid-19 patients and 29 of them have already been discharged. Designated as a Covid-19 facility, the 800-bed Nalanda Medical College Hospital (NMCH), Patna, has registered an impressive performance with the recovery of 14 of its 24 Covid-19 patients. With eight more recovered patients likely to get released by Thursday evening, NMCH’s success rate will jump further.

For a state which made almost a disastrous beginning with the death of its first confirmed Covid-19 case on March 22, Bihar has done reasonably well in controlling the pandemic and also in treating the positive cases.

In fact, Bihar’s first case, a driver from Munger with travel history to Qatar, died on March 21 before his test report declared him positive a day later. So far, he is the only Covid-19 death registered in Bihar.

Of the 72 cases reported in BIhar, Siwan accounted for 29, Munger, Begusarai (8 each), Nalanda (6), Patna (6), Gaya (5) , Gopalganj and Nawada (3 each), Lakhisarai, Saran, Bhagalpur and Vaishali (1 each). So far, 24 of Bihar’s 38 districts have remained untouched by Covid-19 cases.

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