Published 18:04 IST, April 29th 2020
MASSIVE: MHA allows inter-state movement of stranded migrants, students across the country
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has permitted the inter-state movement of stranded persons such as migrant workers in India amid the COVID-19 crisis.
In a big development on Wednesday, the Ministry of Home Affairs has permitted the inter-state movement of stranded persons in the country. This move will help migrant workers, students, pilgrims, tourists who have been stranded in different parts of India to return to their home state. While buses will be used for the transportation of the persons, they will be allowed to proceed only after being medically screened. Moreover, they will again be tested for COVID-19 at their destination and kept in home quarantine or sent to an institutional quarantine facility as per the assessment. Currently, there are 31,787 confirmed novel coronavirus cases in India out of which 7,797 persons have recovered while 1008 casualties have been reported.
MHA issues guidelines
As per the guidelines issued by the MHA, all state governments have been directed to designate nodal officers and develop standard protocols for receiving and sending such stranded persons. The nodal authorities shall register the stranded persons within their state or Union Territory. The sending and receiving state must consult each other when a group of stranded persons seeks to move from one state to another state and mutually agree to movement by road. The buses used for the purpose of transporting the migrants shall be sanitised and follow social distancing norms. Furthermore, the states falling in the transit route will allow the passage of such persons to the receiving state. Even if the migrants test negative for the novel coronavirus, they will be subjected to periodic check-ups.
Union Health Minister lauds quality healthcare
Earlier in the day, Union Health Minister Dr.Harsh Vardhan lauded the quality of healthcare being provided across India. He stated that the COVID-19 cases are doubling in India every 11.3 days. He also noted that India had a COVID-19 mortality rate of 3% in comparison to the global mortality rate of around 7%. The Union Health Minister pointed out that 86% of the deceased persons had co-morbidities. He appreciated the fact that only 0.33% of patients are on ventilators, 1.5% of patients are on oxygen support and 2.34% of patients are in ICU. Mentioning that 288 government labs along with 97 private labs were conducting around 60,000 tests every day, he stressed that the Centre was taking necessary steps to increase the testing capacity to 1 lakh tests per day.
Updated 18:45 IST, April 29th 2020