The health machinery here has managed to test not more than 15 per cent of the 4 lakh odd migrant returnees for Covid-19, health officials said on Tuesday. The low rate of testing assumes significance as the return of migrants has increased the number of Covid-19 cases in State by at least six times since early May.
Doctors involved in State's Covid-19 task force are of the opinion that the cases may further increase as more migrants get tested for the viral infection. “Most of the migrants returning to Jharkhand have not been tested yet," said a senior member of the Covid-19 task force, requesting anonymity. “The testing rate is slow, but we are fast catching up as new testing kits have arrived in different districts," he added.
Health Secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni said that regular tests were being conducted across the state. “Tests are being conducted every day. It is a gradual process. Around 14 per cent of the migrants who returned home have been tested so far," he said.
As per figures released by the National Health Mission (NHM), the state has collected samples of more than 80,000 suspects for Covid-19 tests, but managed to test only 70,000 of them. The total number of samples collected so far, including that of local residents and migrants, is around 20 per cent of the total number of migrant workers who have returned to the state.
As many as 3.5 lakh migrants have returned to Jharkhand by Shramik trains so far, Chief Minister Hemant Soren tweeted recently. However, the count of migrant returnees is much higher as many of them have returned by flights, cars and buses, sources said.
According to NHM, as many as 2,85,789 Covid-19 suspects have been put in home quarantine in the State, while 91,722 have been kept in quarantine centres. Almost all of these suspects are either migrants or people who came in direct contact with them after they returned home, an official from NHM said.
According to NHM, by May 5, the state had reported only 115 cases of Covid-19 infection. Cut to June 2, the number of Covid-19 cases has increased almost six times and reached 675, the latest NHM report said. As many as 461 migrants have tested positive in Jharkhand since May 1.
