Patna, April 22 As Bihar sees a steady rise in the number of coronavirus patients, the real reason is being attributed to negligence, according to health department officials.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has accepted the fact that the rise in the number of cases is due to people coming in contact with infected persons inadvertently.
The maximum number of Covid-19 cases in Bihar has been reported from Siwan, Monghyr and Nalanda.
A resident of Monghyr who returned from Qatar created a chain of transmission and infected 13 persons, and himself succumbed to the disease at a Patna hospital.
Similarly in Siwan, a person who returned from Oman created a chain of transmission and infected as many as 24 people who came in contact with him directly or indirectly.
Health department's principal secretary Sanjay Kumar said, "the infected person's responsibility increases manifold. He should stay at home even on a slight suspicion to break the chain of transmission."
Similar is the case of another hotspot in Bihar Nalanda. Here one coronavirus positive person infected 16 persons.
The nodal officer of the Nalanda Medical College said, "If a person thinks he is infected with the virus, he must isolate himself immediately to check the transmission."
The Chief Minister accepted that the number of cases in Bihar is on the rise, but said there is no cause for worry as the government has ramped up testing. He said, "The government has stepped up efforts to check the spread. We can control the disease only through social distancing."
After five new cases of coronavirus were reported on Wednesday, the total number of cases rose to 136 in the state. Siwan has the highest number of Covid-19 cases at 29 confirmed infections followed by Monghyr (27).
( With inputs from IANS )