Covid 19 latest: 65% of Bihar’s rapidly rising tally made up of migrants arriving in droves, officials worried
Close to 2 lakh people arrived in Bihar on trains on Monday, while another 1.76 lakh passengers would arrive on Tuesday.
Bihar’s Covid-19 tally has seen a rapid rise with the doubling of total cases in the last 10 days, when 1,465 new cases were recorded, 1,000 of those were registered in the last 6 days alone.
On each day since the beginning of lockdown 4, at least 100 infections have been registered in the state. Positive cases detected between May 16 and 25 alone constitute 55.42% of Bihar’s total tally, triggering concerns about what may lay ahead amid the continuing influx of migrant labourers.
On Monday, the total number of people infected by the deadly virus spiraled to 2,686, with the addition of 112 new cases detected in the last 24 hours, 21 of those were reported from Saharsa district. 180 positive cases were found on Sunday.
The highest single day spike in the state-- 257 cases-- was reported on May 20.
Patna tops the chart with 200 confirmed cases followed by Rohtas district that has 166 positive patients, Munger and Begusarai are joint third with 148 cases each, said health department officials.
Of the 112 cases registered on Monday, 21 were from Saharsa, 10 of those found in one block-Kahra. Darbhanga reported 13 positive cases, Madhubani,10, Katihar and Begusarai reported 9 each, Patna,8, Bhojpur,7, Araria,6, Gopalganj, Khagaria, Arwal, Bhagalpur and Supaul accounted for 3 cases each, Saran, Siwan, Aurangabad and Munger reported 2 cases each, and Nalanda, Sheikhpura, Samastipur, Lakhisarai, Madhepura and Rohtas had one new case each.
Health department officials said 733 patients have recovered so far. They added that a total of 66,148 tests have been conducted in the state until now.
The rising trend of the positive cases is unlikely to change as it is driven by the continued reverse migration of migrant labourers who now account for 1,754 of the total 2,686 positive cases—a staggering 65% contribution.
It is not just the deluge of new cases but also the challenge of tracing and tracking their contacts, that is keeping the officials on the toes.
The HT Guide to Coronavirus COVID-19
On Monday, 1,96,350 passengers arrived by 119 trains, on Tuesday 1,76,900 passengers would be arriving in108 trains. The arrival of labourers by road has also continued unabated.
Analysis of positive cases found on Monday shows that 15.3% of all new cases were returnees from Delhi, 15% had returned from Maharashtra and 10.27% had arrived from Gujarat.
IPRD secretary Anupam Kumar said chief minister Nitish Kumar has instructed officials to add more isolation centres besides adding beds in dedicated hospitals.
With detection of one case each in Samanpura and Lodipur in the state capital, the two areas would become new containment zones. A district administration official said Khajpura and Machli Gali besides the BMP headquarters, which are close to Samanpura, were recently marked containment zones after positive cases were found there.
