With 20 new COVID-19 positive cases detected on Thursday, the Bihar government issued instructions to seal the borders of five worst-affected districts. Siwan, Gopalganj, Nawada, Begusarai, parts of Patna and Munger have been identified as hot spots.
District Magistrate of Patna K Ravi asked the sub-divisional magistrate of Barh to seal the inter-district border connecting Patna to Begusarai and Lakhisarai. Five new positive cases were found in Begusarai on Thursday. All of them were from the Tablighi Jamaat and stayed in the same village.
Bihar Health Minister, Mangal Pandey, admitted it was for the first time since the outbreak of the virus that 20 fresh positive cases have been found in a single day in the state. In his home district of Siwan, nine new cases were found in Panjwar village. All of them are of the same family. A member of the family had returned from Oman last month. The District Magistrate ordered the adjoining villages of Tari Barar, Miyan Chandi and Amhara to be closed for outsiders and declared a containment zone.
In neighbouring Jharkhand too, COVID-19 positive cases rose to 13 with seven being reported from Ranchi, five from Hazaribagh and one from Bokaro district. One positive patient died in the hospital. Deputy Commissioner of Bokaro, Mukesh Kumar sealed the Gomiya block of the district as the patient who succumbed was from a village there.
Ten members of the Jammat who were found in a village in Mokama have been quarantined in the Mokama Town Hall which has been converted into a quarantine centre.