Ranchi, Sep 28 (IANS): Jharkhand Education Minister Jaggarnath Mahto has tested coronavirus positive on Monday.

He has been admitted at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi for treatment. Initially he was suffering from breathing problem. He was admitted in Intensive care Unit (ICU) for treatment and later shifted to the COVID ward.

"The minister's condition is stable. He has been put on high flow of oxygen support system. We are watching his condition. After improvement in health condition his CT scan will be done," said Dr Nisith Ekka, posted in Covid task department of RIMS.

Two years ago the Education Minister had suffered a heart attack. His angioplasty was done in 2018.

In the last 24 hours, 974 fresh cases of coronavirus have emerged across the state taking the overall tally of Covid-19 patients in Jharkhand to 79,909 while 9 deaths have pushed the overall death count to 679 in the state. The mortality rate among the patients currently stands at 0.84 per cent.

As per the information provided by the health department the number of active cases in the state was 12,433 while number of cured and discharged cases stood at 66,797.

Despite the rampant rise in coronavirus cases across the state the recovery rate of Covid-19 patients has improved significantly and has once again gone above 80 per cent to currently stand at 83.40 per cent in Jharkhand.

So far in the state, 20,71,991 samples have been collected out of which 20,59,696 have been tested and 19,79,787 have turned out to be negative.