Patna Dec 31 PTI More than 150 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Bihar which was on Friday left with an active caseload of 488 a nearly 15-fold rise since the beginning of the monthAccording to the health department Patna district is bearing the brunt of the fresh spike accounting for 105 of the 158 casesA resident of the capital city had on Thursday tested positive for omicron which became the first confirmed case of the latest variantOn the brighter side there has been no casualty in the past few days and the death toll has remained constant at 12096The recovery rate is also a healthy 9827 per cent Out of the 726896 people who caught the contagion since the pandemic struck 714311 have recoveredThe testing rate continues to be high About 175 lakh samples were tested in the last 24 hoursMeanwhile Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who has said that the recent spike indicated a third wave though did not warrant restrictive measures as of now chaired a high-level meeting to review the preparedness of the health departmentBesides ordering maintenance of adequate stocks of drugs and oxygen cylinders he called for introducing a genome sequencing facility in the state which would facilitate timely detection of omicron casesHe also expressed satisfaction over the pace of vaccination Till date more than 10 crore shots have been administered in the state PTI NAC SOM SOM

Patna Nov 28 PTI Rival factions of the Lok Janshakti Party on Sunday held separate functions here to celebrate the 21st foundation day of the party which came apart less than a year after the death of its founder Ram Vilas PaswanThe late Union ministers son and heir apparent Chirag Paswan held a function in the sprawling Bapu Sabhagar auditorium where he reached in a huge procession in a virtual show of strength aimed at asserting that desertion by LJP MPs notwithstanding he enjoyed the support of the foot-soldiersJust a few kilometres away Chirags rebellious uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras and renegade cousin Prince Raj attended a function held at the Wheeler Road office of the undivided LJP which the breakaway faction has come to occupy post the splitLJP was floated on this date in 2000 by Ram Vilas Paswan who was then a member of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet and had got elected to Parliament on a ticket of the JDU which was then a faction of the undivided Janata Dal and later got merged with Nitish Kumars Samata PartyThe Election Commission has frozen the LJPs well-known bungalow symbol after the splitChirags faction has been recognised as LJP Ram Vilas while the one headed by Paras is called Rashtriya LJP and both has been allotted new symbols PTI NAC SOM SOM