By IANS

Ranchi : About 1,000 new HIV positive cases have been detected in Jharkhand in 2007, taking the total number in the state to nearly 2,900, an official has said.

"Most new cases were detected near national highways and from where people migrate to other states," Pradeep Kumar, director of the Jharkhand AIDS Control Society (JACS), said here.

"The increase indicates that awareness is rising and people are voluntarily getting their blood tested," Kumar said.

He was speaking after the flagging off of the Red Ribbon Express, an eight-coach train equipped with mobile clinics and counsellors aimed at increasing the awareness of the disease.

Till now AIDS has killed 35 people in Jharkhand.