With thousands and thousands of migrants, carrying stories of pain, agony and trauma, are returning back every day to their home districts in Bihar from all over the country, the State government has decided to start their random testing and skill profiling.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has asked the Health Department officials to start random testing by procuring TrueNat machines to contain the spread of COVID-19 .
“We’re going to do random testing because many positive cases are asymptomatic… District Magistrates have been asked to go for random testing”, said Principal Health Secretary Sanjay Kumar.
The migrants coming to the State have been classified as per the three zones - red, orange and green they were coming from. “Those coming from the red zone and above 60 years will be tested on a priority basis”, said Principal Health Secretary Mr Kumar.
TrueNat machines will be used for the first time in Bihar for screening COVID-19 cases.
“If a sample tests negative on this machine, it means no Coronavirus but, if it gets positive, then again it will be tested on RT-PCR”, said Mr Kumar. As many as 40-42 samples could be tested on this machine in a day, he added.
On April 10, the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) validated the use of TrueNat machines.
Bihar, currently, has been doing sample test on an average of 1,200-1,300 people in its seven labs located in government hospitals in different districts. So far, 31,693 tests have been done, with 563 COVID-19 positive cases detected and 246 recoveries.
In a meeting with officials on Wednesday, the Chief Minister asked officials to do skill mapping of the 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
Meanwhile, migrants continue to reach the State from different parts of the country. According to government sources, over 20,000 would reach by 17 trains at different stations on Friday. On Thursday, 24 trains carrying 28,000 migrants reached the State.
Nearly 27 lakh migrants have registered so far with the government for returning to the State.
The government has set up 3,232 block-level quarantine centres, where 19,123 migrants have taken shelter. Beside, 1,102 centres are running at panchayat level, and 186 disaster relief camps have been set up for those coming to be quarantined for 21 days.
However, reports of lack of food and other basic amenities have been coming from several remote and rural quarantine camps.
The government has reportedly banned entry of media into the quarantine centres.
