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Late surge of positive covid cases mark first leg of lockdown in Jharkhand
As per the latest official data, the number of positive cases stand at 24, of which two persons have died — one each in Ranchi and Bokaro.
The first positive case in Jharkhand was recorded on March 31, a week after the national lockdown was announced. It was of a Malaysian woman in her early twenties, a member of Tablighi Jamaat group that was picked from different mosques in the state capital. She is still under treatment at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS).
As per the latest official data, the number of positive cases stand at 24, of which two persons have died — one each in Ranchi and Bokaro. Both were senior citizens. These cases have been reported from across five districts including Ranchi, Bokaro, Hazaribag, Koderma and Giridih.
Eleven of the 24 positive cases have been reported from one area, Hindpiri, in Ranchi. The entire area, the biggest hotspot in the state with a dense population of around 60,000, has been under curfew for about a week. Six of the 11 cases in Hindpiri are from one single family, including a 60-year-old man who died on Sunday morning.
The other two hotspots are in Bokaro. The district’s first case was reported from Tello village under Chandrapura block. A woman of this village, who had been to Bangladesh and then to New Delhi to attend religious congregation Tablighi Jamaat, was detected positive for Covid-19 on April 5. Later, four members of her family were also found infected with novel coronavirus infection.
The district’s second hotspot is Saram village under Gomia block from where three confirmed cases have so far been reported. The village came in light after the death of the 75-year-old man who was tested positive few hours before he breathed his last.
The deceased, reportedly, had no travel history or contact history with any positive case. The district administration is still tracing the links as to how the man got infected with coronavirus infection.
Of the 24 positive cases in the state, the authorities have been able to trace connection of five to Tablighi Jamaat.
While Jharkhand figures lower in terms of number of positive cases as compared to other states, it is also due to slow pace of testing. As on Monday, 2,523 tests were conducted from across the state.
“First, this is one state which would not have many people who might have come from abroad. As far as migrant workers are concerned, most could not return. One advantage of the state has also been that the population is sparsely habited across the state. Even the urban centres are not very densely populated,” said a health department official.
The officials, however, rue the fact that the tests are not adequate for a state with a population estimated to be over three crore.
“Obviously, it is due to the lack of number of testing kits, besides the lack of testing centres. We have two centres which are fully operational. The third started on Monday, but it is still to get into the groove. Testing has gathered pace only since April 10 when over 200 samples were picked. Monday saw the highest to date with 406 sample collection. The chief minister and the health minister have been highlighting it during all of their interactions with the Centre,” said an official.
One of other aspects of the lockdown has been providing ration and food to the needy. The state government has started over a 1,000 ‘daal-bhaat’ centre across the state besides the Didi kitchens in all panchayats in the state, providing free meal to the needy. The state government is now also planning to transfer ₹2,000 to a migrant worker from one family, stuck outside the state, on recommendation of the local MLA. As per estimates, over seven lakh migrant workers from Jharkhand are expected to be stuck in different states.
Taking lessons, the state government has also constituted a subcommittee of three ministers for overseeing the related issues during the lockdown. “We focused on providing food to the needy, besides seeing that agriculture produce and other things like milk production is not affected during the first leg of lockdown. We are going to implement all such measures even more effectively now,” said Rameshwar Oraon, state’s finance and civil supplies minister. Oraon is also a member of the ministers’ subcommittee constituted on Tuesday.
