The Bihar Government on Wednesday has extended the ongoing lockdown for 16 more days from August 1 till mid-August as coronavirus cases continue to spike in the state.
The COVID-19 tally in Bihar has surged to 45,919. The number of recovered patients stands at 29,220.
The Bihar government has appointed IAS Pratyay Amrit as the new principal secretary (health), replacing Uday Singh Kumawat. This is the third such placement within two and a half months and shows that all is not well in the health department. On May 20, Kumawat had replaced the then principal secretary Sanjay Kumar in the health department.
Earlier this month, a central team had visited Bihar to review the COVID-19 situation in the state amid complaints of inadequate facilities and negligence at state-run hospitals. The three-member team led by Joint Secretary in Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry Lav Agarwal were sent to the state after allegations of poor handling of the coronavirus situation by the Nitish Kumar-led government.
The Central team members reinforced the concept of aggressive daily testing while citing that Bihar has been lagging in optimal utilisation of its test potential.