Dip in number of migrants testing positive for Covid at Thane railway station

The number of migrants testing positive at Thane railway station has reduced drastically in the last one month. It has fallen from around 250 positive cases daily

The number of migrants testing positive at Thane railway station has reduced drastically in the last one month. It has fallen from around 250 positive cases daily in September to less than 10 cases in the last two weeks.

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This has also helped in improving the positivity rate within the city. The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) had set up three testing counters at Thane railway station on the west side since the last one-and-a-half months, while two more were set up at east side.

Sandeep Malvi, deputy municipal commissioner, TMC, said, “Due to the unlock practice, migrant labourers who had shifted to their hometown were returning to the city in September in large number. September saw more than 15,000 arrive at the railway station daily whereas now there are only around 2,000 arriving on a daily basis. This is also one of the reasons for decrease in the number of positive cases at the railway station. After the festive season, there could be more number of migrants visiting and we are prepared with two more counters at Thane east side of the railway station.”

The health department claimed that tenacious testing of each and every migrant helped break the chain.

Dr Raju Murudkar, medical health officer, TMC, said, “Initially, when we started testing, there were around 800 migrants at the railway station on an average and among these, 40-70 would test positive on a regular basis. However, the number increased around mid-September to approximately 250 migrants testing positive from among the 15,000 who used to arrive at the railway station. Each and every long distance passenger was tested. We ensured that those with symptoms were isolated and those tested positive were admitted to our Covid care centre immediately. This helped break the chain and bring the situation under control.”

Dhananjay Singh, founder, Rudra Pratishthan, an organisation that works for the welfare of the north Indian community in Thane said that merely 40 per cent of the migrants have returned so far.

He added, “We were expecting an influx of labourers after the Navratri festival. Most probably this will happen after Diwali now.”

Each person takes around four minutes to take swab samples and provide basic details.

Shashikumar Nair, chairman of Yatra Samiti, Thane, said, “There were many passengers visiting earlier, making it difficult to follow social distancing and leading to chaos at the railway station earlier. However, there are few arriving at the station now and this has led to better crowd management. These counters should continue even after the festive season, this will help keep the cases in control.”

Testing at night also

The antigen testing counter at Thane station is functional throughout the night to increase testing in the city, as per the Thane civic commissioner Dr Vipin Sharma’s guidelines. On Thursday night, first day since the directives, 832 commuters were tested. With increase in the number of long distance trains, most trains arrived at the station at night. Thus, the decision to set up round the clock testing counter was taken.