Despite the total number of coronavirus cases in Bihar touching 673, one could claim that the state was gradually escaping the clutches of the deadly pathogen as 354 COVID-19 patients had recovered already. However, the return of more than one lakh stranded migrants over the past week may end up derailing the process.
Among the teeming migrants who arrived in Bihar by train, 142 persons have already tested positive for COVID-19 and with that, the novel coronavirus has now spread to 37 of Bihar’s 38 districts, reported India Today.
Commenting on the developments, a government official said - starting May 4 - 30 migrants arriving in Bihar from Maharashtra had tested positive for COVID-19, along with 22 others who arrived from Gujarat, and eight from Delhi.
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The official added: “The Health Department has confirmed that the infection rate vis-à-vis samples taken were just about 1.8 percent, before the arrival of the migrants. From every 1,000 tests conducted earlier, less than two percent were tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Bihar. However, with the arrival of the huge migrant population, that rate climbed to 4.5 percent, which means 45 COVID-19 patients were found when 1,000 tests were conducted.”
The government official further said that the rate of infection among the migrants was also higher because most of them returned from “trouble zones”.
Meanwhile, Anupam Kumar, Secretary - Information and Public Relations, Bihar, has informed that there are 3,474 block quarantine centres in the state at present, which already have 98,814 lodged in them.
Moreover, the state government has reportedly screened more than 10 crore locals as a part of its door-to-door coronavirus screening programme. Only 3,849 persons -- i.e., 0.0037 percent -- were found to exhibit flu-like symptoms. Their samples have been sent for testing and the report is awaited. In all likelihood, most of them may not even turn out to be infected by the novel coronavirus.
Compared to this, 0.048 percent of the migrants tested positive for COVID-19, which is much higher than the rate found in locals.
Even as the fear of a sudden spike in coronavirus cases in the state looms large, 86 special trains are scheduled to arrive this week, bringing back more stranded migrants. A total of 2.22 lakh more people are expected to return even before the lockdown is lifted on May 17.
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