With thousands and thousands of migrants, carrying stories of pain, agony and trauma, returning every day to their home districts in Bihar from all over the country, the State government has decided to start random testing.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has asked the Health Department officials to start random testing by procuring TrueNat machines. These machines, endorsed by the Indian Council of Medical Research on April 10, will be used for the first time in Bihar for screening COVID-19 cases.
“We’re going to do random testing because many positive cases are asymptomatic… District Magistrates have been asked to go for it,” said Principal Health Secretary Sanjay Kumar.
The migrants coming to the State are being classified according to the three zones — red, orange and green — they come from. “Those coming from the red zone and above 60 years will be tested on priority basis,” said Mr. Kumar.
“If a sample tests negative on the TrueNat machine, it means no novel coronavirus, but if it is positive, then it will subjected to the RT-PCR test,” said Mr. Kumar. As many as 40-42 samples could be tested on this machine in a day, he added.
Bihar has currently been conducting sample tests on an average of 1,200-1,300 people in its seven labs located in district government hospitals. So far, 31,693 tests have been done. Seven more COVID-19 positive cases have now taken the total number to 563 — six males and one female from Darbhanga, Saharsha, Supaul and Katihar districts.
In a meeting with officials on Wednesday, the Chief Minister asked officials to do skill mapping of returning migrant workers “to help the government in using their services as per their skill”.
“The government will do skill mapping of migrants through an app... it will help us in providing them jobs as per their skill other than the MGNREGA,” Minister Neeraj Kumar said.
Arrivals by trains
Migrants continue to reach the State from different parts of the country. According to government sources, over 20,000 were scheduled to reach by 17 trains at different stations on Friday. On Thursday, 24 trains carrying 28,000 migrants reached the State.
