113 new cases push Bihar’s tally to 1,145, over 40% are migrants

Bihar reported 113 more Covid cases across 23 districts Saturday, pushing the state tally to 1,145, with seven deaths so far.

Bihar reported 113 more Covid cases across 23 districts Saturday, pushing the state tally to 1,145, with seven deaths so far.

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This was the second highest spike in a day after May 12, when 130 cases were reported in state.

Of these cases, six were reported from Patna, five of whom were police personnel of the Bihar Military Police (BMP-14). This had taken the tally of police personnel infected with the virus to 37, including 27 from the BMP and 10 others from the district police constabulary.

The home-coming of the migrants had contributed to a spike in cases as around 44% of the state’s Covid cases were attributed to them, said health secretary Lokesh Kumar Singh.

A total of 481 migrants of whom 423 had returned to the state after May 3, had so far tested positive for coronavirus, he added.

Of the total 44,340 samples tested so far, nearly 2.44% were positive for Covid-19, said Singh.

Meanwhile, state government Saturday clarified that migrants coming from outside by any means, will be eligible for government aid of ₹1,000 after completion of the mandatory 14-day institutional quarantine period.

The government issued fresh directives Friday as the previous order was silent about migrant workers, who had reached the state by road, either by truck, bus, bicycle and even on foot.

The earlier order had mentioned about migrants reaching the state by Shramik Special trains.

In allowing financial assistance of ₹1,000 to all such individuals, the government had, however, put a rider that migrants, having their bank accounts, maintained in Bihar, would only be eligible to receive its largesse.

This had raised political hackles with the Congress questioning the state government’s intention in paying the migrants, arguing that many of them would be deprived of the financial aid as they had their bank accounts at their place of employment.

Kumar had earlier said that migrants returning to the state would be reimbursed ₹500 in addition to their train fare. A migrant worker would, however, get a minimum of ₹1,000 under the scheme if the amount taken together was less than ₹1,000, said Anupam Kumar, secretary, Information and public relations department.

This amount was to be directly transferred into the bank account of the individual after completion of the quarantine period.

As of Saturday, nearly 3 lakh migrants were staying at block quarantine camps, after 2,46,160 migrant workers had reached Bihar by 195 Shramik Special trains till May 14, as per data released by the IPRD. The migrants have been put into 14-day institutional quarantine at block-level centres, after which they will have to undergo seven-day home quarantine.

Unlike students, who were allowed home quarantine after they returned back, the migrants were made to stay in institutional quarantine centres to contain the spread of the virus, said officials.

CASE BREAK-UP

As of Saturday, Munger reported 125 cases, followed by Patna (106), Rohtas (77), Nalanda (67), Buxar (59), Begusarai (54), Siwan, Khagaria (43 each), Madhubani (39), Nawada (35) Kaimur (33), Bhagalpur (37), Banka, Gopalganj (32 each), Bhojpur (30), Jehanabad, Purnea (27 each), West Champaran (25), Aurangabad (22), Sheikhpura (21), Muzaffarpur (20), Darbhanga, Madhepura, East Champaran (16 each), Kaitihar (17), Lakhisarai, Saharsa (13 each), Arwal, Samastipur, Kishanganj (12 each), Supaul, Vaishali (11 each), Saran, Jamui (10 each), Gaya (8 each), Sitamarhi (7), Araria, Sheohar (4 each) till the time of going to the press.