The Bihar government has now shifted its attention on vegetable sellers after migrants to check the possible spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the state.
The health department’s instructions to all the district magistrates (DMs) to sample vegetable sellers in the markets came on a day when chief minister Nitish Kumar discussed the state’s strategy with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to cope with rising numbers of the Sars-Cov-2, the virus which causes the coronavirus disease.
In separate letters, principal secretary of the health department Sanjay Kumar on Monday directed DMs of all the 38 districts to collect samples of vegetable sellers, mostly in urban markets, and test them for Covid-19.
Kumar cited the examples of Chennai and Delhi and said that vegetable sellers, who have remained unsampled in the state, were found to be the super spreaders in those places.
In view of the risen in the number of Covid-19 cases among the migrants, who arrived in the state during the lockdown, the principal secretary directed DMs to sample migrants, high-risk people and vegetable sellers from Tuesday.
The DMs have, however, been told to restrict the sampling to 50 so that their testing could be processed in 24 hours.