With thousands of migrants still arriving in Bihar per day, 170 of them have been discovered in the final week contaminated with COVID-19. Further monitoring by migrants was pursued by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in order to avoid COVID-19 spread throughout the province.
With 1,10 lakh migrants returning from the first of May to Bihar, and a projected 85,000 more expected to return by the middle of the month, there is a great challenge facing the state: limited facilities to check Covid for the increasing numbers of people entering the state.
Migrants’ samples were obtained from 25 quarantine centers, where mainly those from red areas remain since 4 May.
COVID-19 positive was found to be maximized in Begusarai, Nalanda, Araria and other districts from the countries of Gujarat, Maharshatra and Delhi.
Since 1 May, 84 trains have returned to different districts with over one lakh migrants and 86 trains are scheduled to reach the State next week at approximately 1.20 lakhs. Per day, nearly 20,000 migrants have returned to the state by train or road via six inter-state boundaries over the last few days.
On average, 16-18 trains with migrants enter various stations every day from which they are transported to their respective blocks for 21 days.
Mr Kumar said that random testing of migrants alone would not serve the objective during a review meeting with top officials of the state. He asked for details of the arrangements in the quarantine government centers. He ordered the officers to provide the migrants in the centers all the requisite facilities and to distribute soaps and masks to the villagers.
The Bihar administration said on Tuesday that the returning migrants comprised 65 cases in Covid, with a total of 535 in 32 of the state’s 38 districts. So far, Bihar has reported four Covid-related deaths. On Tuesday there were only seven new cases registered, tweeted Sanjay Kumar, Chief Secretary for Health, Bihar.
“Going by our experience over the past 10 days, almost 60% to 70% of the tested samples, which came positive, were of people who came from outside the state,” Kumar said.
Bihar ‘s Secretary for Health Lokesh Kumar Singh said on Tuesday, the 65 cases of migrant workers have been spread across 21 Bihar districts.
Samples are collected and checked in collections and individual samples are evaluated after aggregate positive results are completed. In contrast with the actual research samples, this approach decreases the amount of test kits required.
On Tuesday officials said that approximately 20,000 migrants and students had arrived in Bihar by special trains and that many more would arrive in the coming days. A 21-day mandatory quarantine for returning people has been determined by Bihar Government.
