Samples of very few among 25 lakh returnees collected in Bihar

PATNA: The migrants returning home contribute over 72% to the total Covid-19 cases in Bihar. The figures are based on the samples of migrants tested for coronavirus. Though around 21 lakh migrants returned since May 2, only 84,729 samples were tested in the state till June 3. They include those who had not gone outside Bihar.
As per the state health department data, total 4,273 people tested positive for Covid-19 till June 3 and 3,079 of them were migrants.Had all the migrants returning home been tested, the figure would have been much higher, if the percentage of samples taken and people testing positive are taken into consideration.
East Central Railway on Thursday claimed that over 20 lakh migrants have returned to Bihar by Shramik special trains since May 3. If at least one lakh who came by other modes of transport or on foot are added, around 21 lakh migrants have returned so far. That means only 1.46% of the total migrants who came back to state tested positive.
The state health department could not provide the break-up of total number of migrants reaching home and how many of them were among the 84,729 people whose samples were collected for Covid testing.
Public health expert and former Union ministry of health and family welfare's National Health Systems Resource Centre head, T Sundararaman said: "Ideally, all the migrants should be tested, but that is not possible. So, the government should at least test 5% of the migrants. That means at least one lakh migrants should have been tested. But Bihar is under-testing as of now and it is a serious problem. Testing capacity should be enhanced 10 times more than at present."
State health secretary Lokesh Kumar said all symptomatic migrants were being tested in the state. He said door-to-door survey was also being done to ensure migrants under home quarantine were following the norms. "Their health status is checked for 14 days and those who develop any symptoms are tested," Lokesh stated through a press statement on Wednesday.
As per the state government data, around 25 lakh Bihar migrants registered for Rs1000 cash benefit. It is considered that most of them returned to the state. Altogether 5.21 lakh people had registered in Delhi, but only 729 people with travel history from there tested positive for the virus till Wednesday.
Similarly, 3.2 lakh Bihar migrants registered in Haryana for Rs1,000, but only 264 of them tested positive on return. Another 2.9 lakh people had registered in Maharashtra and 733 have tested positive for the virus after reaching Bihar so far.