Bihar lockdown to extend till May 25, announces Chief Minister Nitish Kumar

Amid the unprecedented second wave of COVID-19 across India, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced on Thursday that the lockdown imposed in the state has been extended till May 25. Earlier this month, the state government had revealed that the government has decided to implement a lockdown till May 15.

CM Nitish Kumar took to Twitter and said, "The status of the lockdown implemented in Bihar was reviewed today along with associate ministers and officials. The positive effect of the lockdown is visible. Therefore, it has been decided to extend the lockdown in Bihar for the next 10 days i.e. from 16 to 25 May 2021."

COVID-19 in Bihar

Bihar's COVID-19 death toll went up to 3,503 on Wednesday after 74 people succumbed to the disease, while 9,863 fresh positive cases pushed the tally to 6,22,433, the health department said. It said that 12,265 recovered from the infection, taking the total number of cured people to 5,19,306.

The state currently has 99,623 active cases. Of the fresh fatalities, 15 were reported from Patna district, eight from West Champaran, and six from Muzaffarpur and Nalanda districts.

The 9,863 new COVID cases include 506 from Muzaffarpur district, 523 from Nalanda, and 487 from Samastipur. A total of 1,11,740 samples were tested for coronavirus in Bihar during the last 24 hours, taking the total number of such tests to 2,76,33,066, the health department said.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that the government is upgrading the infrastructure in hospitals by increasing the number of beds, ventilators, and other items following the surge in cases in the second wave of the pandemic.

India added 3,62,727 new coronavirus infections in a day taking the COVID-19 tally of cases to 2,37,03,665, while the death toll rose to 2,58,317 with 4,120 daily fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.