Migrant workers returning home could spread coronavirus in sub-continent: World Bank

World Bank on Sunday said migrant workers returning home could become vectors carrying coronavirus to unaffected states and vills and that preliminary findings indicated in India many outmigration areas are likely to have COVID-19 cases.

In its biannual regional report, World Bank said South Asia is one of highest population density areas in world, particularly urban areas, and that preventing domestic coronavirus transmission is an ermous challenge in region.

“This makes contagion easier, especially among most vulnerable people: slum dwellers and migrant workers,” it said.

In India, Banglesh and Pakistan, time between anuncement of suspension of inland passenger transport and its enforcement was less than a day, which gave way to chaos as migrants scrambled to get back to ir provinces, exacerbating crowding and making enforcement of social distancing impossible.

“ flow of migrant workers could easily become vectors carrying coronavirus back to or states and vills,” said World Bank in its “South Asia Ecomic Update: Impact of COVID-19” report released Sunday.

One mir vant of South Asia is that population over 65 years of is lower than in US and China, which could also limit death rates, report stated.

However, household sizes are large. As in or countries, inequate availability of medical equipment (such as sanitizers, masks, and ventilators), and a scarcity of mostly imported medical products led countries to stock domestic supplies.

Bank said that lockdown policies have affected hundreds of millions of migrants across subcontinent many of whom are day labourers and longer have work in urban centres, leing to mass migrations, often by foot, back to ir rural homes.

Migrants face a stark choice between potentially starving in urban centers without work or long and potentially fatal journeys over hundreds of miles to ir home districts, it said.

“Preliminary findings indicate that in India, high-outmigration areas are more likely to have COVID-19 cases,” World Bank said as it urged government to direct early resources to high-risk areas as defined by high-migration corridors, including medical equipment and staf“Use available big data and digital data to analyse patterns of reverse migration and movement around country, to more precisely identify potential hot-spots,” it said and called for establishing social safety nets to help limit reverse migration

“If t possible to prevent reverse migration to rural districts via urban-centered social protection programs, governments should consider immediate assistance to migrants to limit suffering and loss of life during strenuous long-distance journeys, by providing information and food and water to journeying migrants,” World Bank said.