“Last time, the highest number of cases in a single day was 3,800. This time, on Thursday, we crossed 6,100. This sudden jump in the number of cases has definitely posed a challenge to the existing resources,” Pandey told ET, adding that the state government was ramping up infrastructure to meet the requirement.
Currently, Bihar has reported cases from all its 38 districts.
In the last 15 days, the number of active cases in the state has increased to 29,078 cases from 1,455.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar held a meeting with Cabinet colleagues on two consecutive days – Thursday and Friday – to review the situation.
On Saturday, an all-party meeting is scheduled with the Governor in the presence of the chief minister where some tough measures are likely to be announced to contain its spread.
In the meeting on Thursday, Kumar emphasized on the need to increase testing.
“Testing is the only solution to defeat this virus and we are focusing on that,” Kumar said.
Pandey said Bihar was testing 100,000 samples daily and the number will increase further in the coming days.
For the state, another concern is preventing the spread of the virus in rural areas.
Kumar has said that people coming from other states should be tested.
Bihar has also made RT-PCR negative reports mandatory for anyone coming in by air from Maharashtra, Punjab and Kerala.
The state is putting up infrastructure to prevent its spread into villages.