Bihar govt changes strategy for quarantine as 1184 migrants test COVID-19 positive

With no jobs and means of livelihood due to the extended lockdown, a large number of migrants across India have started returning back to Bihar on trains, buses and some on foot and other means of transportation. So far 15 lakh migrants have already returned and the Bihar Govt expects approximately 40 lakhs migrants to return back to Bihar.

With the continuous surge in the number of returnee migrants from different parts of the country, the Bihar Govt has now decided to categorise two types of quarantine for migrants:
 1. Govt run quarantine for those returning from high-risk infection city 
2. Home quarantine for migrants returning from the rest of the country 

Principal Secretary Disaster Management, Govt of Bihar, Pratyay Amrit said, "With a large number of Migrants now returning back to Bihar, the  Govt has decided to put migrant workers coming back to Bihar from 11 cities namely  Mumbai, Pune  Ahmedabad, Surat, Delhi, Ghaziabad, Noida, Gurugram Faridabad, Bangalore, Kolkata in Gov't run quarantine with social distancing. Migrant workers coming back from rest of the country to be put in Home quarantine, which is to be monitored by Health department and District administration whether they are following the protocol of home quarantine ."

Ever since the Shramik special Trains started ferrying the migrants from May 3, 1184 migrants have tested positive after random sampling in the government run quarantine centres, out of 2105 total COVID-19 positive cases in Bihar. The majority of the migrants were asymptomatic.

Bihar Chief Secretary Deepak Kumar said, "So far 2105  people have tested positive out of which 529 people have recovered. 1184 migrants have reported positive since May 3, which is a cause of concern and that is why we have categorised migrants returning from 11 cities as high-risk zones."

For the next 10 days, 2 lakh people are expected to return to Bihar every day on trains and buses. The majority of the migrants are returning back from Delhi, Mumbai, Surat Ahmedabad, Haryana, Ghaziabad, Noida, Gurgaon. The Bihar government is running around 7,500 quarantine centres for migrants in Bihar, with 2 people sharing a room. 

With around 40 lakh migrants returning to Bihar, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has directed the officials to conduct skill mapping of each migrant and create job opportunities for each one of them so that they can sustain their livelihood. Creating job opportunities for migrants will be an uphill task for Bihar government, but the Bihar Chief Minister is interracting with the migrants living in the government-run quarantine centres, to understand their problems through video conferencing.