Corona cases decline in Bihar, UP, Jharkhand, MP

NEW DELHI: In a major relief, eastern and central states, which received most of the returning migrant workers, have witnessed a significant decline in number of Coronavirus cases since May 1, shows data. The respective state governments were fearing that the returning migrants would push the Covid-19 cases in the regions and take the pandemic to rural areas, which has very poor health infrastructure in comparison to urban places. While state governments kept the returning workers in quarantine for a period ranging from seven to 21 days, officials said the declining trend was because of a fall in the number of migrants returning home in the first and second week of June. “The peak of returning migrant workers is over,” Lokesh Kumar Singh, Bihar's health secretary, said.

Singh's comment sums up the situation in the states that received a large number of migrant workers and is corroborated by the figures of the railways ministry, which has reduced the operations of its Shramik Special trains from June 15 as the demand from the states went down.

In Bihar, the number of Covid-19 cases increased to 6,581 on June 15 from 3,923 on June 1. Although the total number of cases had steadily increased, the pace has slowed down in the past few days, Singh said.

As compared to about 12% increase in cases in the first week of June, there was 10.81% rise in the second week. According to Bihar's public relations department, around 2.1 million workers have returned to the state since May 1, when the Shramik trains started, and of them, only 250,000 came during the first two weeks of June.

“Most of the migrant workers who have arrived by Shramik Special trains to Bihar between May 3 and June 11 have completed their mandatory quarantine period,” Anupam Kumar, Bihar's public relations secretary, said.

The situation is no different in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, where three million workers have returned since mid-april and which led to a spike in Covid-19 cases in eastern and western parts, the two regions, from where many people go for work to other states.

After their return, almost half of them have been medically screened for Covid-19. The UP government's health department data shows that the weekly average of the rise in the Covid-19 infections in the first week of June was 412 cases per day, which reduced to 356 cases per day in the second week.

“Over 500 cases were reported on Saturday and Sunday because of the results of the pending test reports coming. Otherwise, the pace of increase in cases in on the downward trend,” Amit Mohan Prasad, the principal secretary of the health and family welfare, said. Prasad said health workers had screened 1.6 million migrants, who are under home quarantine, till June 14 and only 1,455 of them had symptoms of the disease.

The second week of Unlock 1 that began on June 1 has brought some reprieve for Jharkhand as well. There has been a declining trend in Covid-19 cases after 10 days of a steep spike as there was a substantial dip in the number of migrant workers returning. The pandemic peaked on June 8 when the state recorded the highest ever single-day spike of 187 new cases. It took a downward trend thereafter with 50 cases per day on average being reported in the last four days. From 610 cases on May 31, the state's tally on June 15 had increased to 1,151. In Madhya Pradesh, another state with the high recipient of migrant workers, the rise in the number of Covid-19 cases has also slowed down. The number of new cases recorded has fallen from 1,424 in last week of May to 1,401 in the second week of June.