Thirty-seven inmates of jail near Patna test Covid positive

Nearly 40 inmates of the Beur Central Prison on the outskirts of the Bihar capital have tested positive for COVID-19, an official said on Tuesday.

According to jail superintendent Jitendra Kumar, mass testing was ordered after one of the inmates, a former MLA, tested positive for the infection last week.

"Ex-MLA Ranveer Yadav had developed symptoms. Rapid antigen test report was positive. Subsequently, mass testing was ordered. More than 800 inmates underwent RT-PCR test on Saturday and Sunday. Reports came out yesterday with 37 of them testing positive", the jail superintendent told PTI-Bhasha.

The former MLA has since been shifted to a hospital while the other inmates who have tested positive were kept in an isolation ward inside the jail, Kumar said.

The state has been reporting more than 100 cases for the past few days, more than half of these in the capital district.

The state's active caseload had on Monday reached 774, according to the health department.