Bihar CM tests COVID-19 positive, goes into home isolation

Six Ministers, party president too are found infected; new variant detected

Nitish Kumar. File

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday tested COVID-19 positive and, on the advice of the doctors, has gone into home isolation. A new variant of the virus was detected in Bihar after genome sequencing of the samples by the Patna-based Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS).

Earlier, six Ministers and party president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh too tested positive and had gone into home isolation.

“Bihar Chief Minister has tested COVID-19 positive and, on the advice of doctors, he has isolated himself at his residence,” said the Chief Minister’s Office in a tweet.

Earlier, over 30 staff members of the Chief Minister’s official residence tested positive.

A new variant of COVID-19 was detected in Bihar after genome sequencing of the samples by the Patna-based Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS).

According to the Director of the IGIMS, 27 of the 32 samples tested positive recently for the Omicron variant. Four samples tested positive for the Delta variant and one for an “unknown variant”, said the director.

With 5,022 new cases on Sunday, the tally stand at 16,897 while Patna registered the highest number of 9,122 active cases. The recovery rate, however, is 96.11% .