Photos: Cases surge across India after returning migrants test positive

A spurt in Covid-19 cases across India since May 1 has been linked to migrant workers who have returned to their hometowns from various cities across the country. This ignites fear that rural India is no longer safe from the coronavirus pandemic, that has affected 67,152 people nationally so far. This realisation has also caused panic among health experts, as until now nearly 80% of the cases recorded have been seen in urban areas, where the infrastructure needed to treat a victim of a pandemic is better.

Updated on: May 11, 2020 8:29 PM IST

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Migrant workers wave at their fellow workers and families on a special train bound to Barauni in Bihar as they head to their hometowns during lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, in Amritsar. A sharp rise in Covid-19 cases in Bihar, Odisha, Rajasthan and Jharkhand since May 1, has been linked to migrant workers who have returned from various cities across the country, reported HT. (Narinder Nanu / AFP)

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Migrant workers leave for their native state on foot during the lockdown in New Delhi. State officials have confirmed that rural India is no longer safe from the pandemic which has caused panic among health experts, as till now nearly 80% of the cases recorded have been seen in urban areas, where the infrastructure needed to treat a victim of a pandemic is better. (Vipin Kumar/ HT Photo)

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Belongings of migrant workers are seen on the ground as they wait to board buses outside a police station in Thane. Ever since a nationwide lockdown was announced starting March 25, migrant workers from across the country began to walk and cycle back to their home states even as a few states deployed buses to ferry some of them home. (Mitesh Bhuvad / PTI)

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Migrant workers seen sitting on a street as they wait for buses to the railway station in Surat. Last week, the Indian Railway began running special trains for migrants separated from their families on account of the lockdown and them being stranded without any earnings. (PTI)

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Migrant workers rest under the Mumbai-Pune Expressway in Navi Mumbai. According to the union health ministry, across India there is a shortfall of primary healthcare centres and community healthcare centres by 22% and 30% respectively, reported HT. (PTI)

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Migrant workers show their hands marked with quarantine stamps upon their arrival by a special train in Danapur station, Patna. As the workers started reaching their home states, they were placed in quarantine centres. (Santosh Kumar / HT Photo)

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A migrant worker looks out of the window of a special train bound to his home town in Bihar. In Bihar, 100 workers tested positive on Saturday. In other hotspots such as Jajpur, Bhubaneswar, Balasore, Bhadrak and Rourkela, most of those who have tested positive in the past fortnight are migrant workers who have returned from Surat. (ANI)

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A migrant family that began walking from Shadipur Depot after having had to vacate their home is headed to Allahabad on foot, in New Delhi. As cases rise, states have decided to expand the period of quarantine to 28 days. (Sushil Kumar / HT Photo)