1/4th of Bihar Covid-19 patients returned from Middle-East

Ramashankar | TNN | Updated: Apr 14, 2020, 07:03 IST

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PATNA: Migrants working in the Middle-East are being blamed for the Covid-19 outbreak in Bihar as 15 of the 65 positive cases in the state had travel history from Bahrain, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Oman, Qatar and Sharjah. And, two of them infected 35 others after reaching Bihar.
Moreover, Siwan and Gopalganj accounted for almost 50% of the positive cases reported in the state. While Siwan has emerged as the Covid hotspot with the maximum 29 cases, its neighbouring Gopalganj district reported three positive cases. The two districts have the history of sending more than one lakh migrant workers to the Middle-East in search of jobs.
In 2018, a total of 47,773 people from Siwan had applied for passports, followed by 38,182 in Gopalganj. “On an average, 3,000 passport applications from Siwan reach the regional passport office in Patna every month,” said a source in the Siwan district administration.
As per rough estimates, around 60,000 people from Siwan and over 50,000 from Gopalganj district worked abroad. Barharia, Hasanpura, Hussainganj and Mairwa blocks in Siwan district have the highest number of migrants in the Gulf countries.
Similarly, a major chunk of migrant workers were from villages under Bhore, Majhi and Uchkagaon blocks in Gopalganj district. They are mainly engaged in jobs of carpenter, tailor, mason, driver and electrician.
Officials posted at the Gopalganj district control room revealed that 3,180 people returned to the district from abroad between January 1 and March 30. Out of them, 709 returned between March 18 and March 23.
Authoritative sources said swab of 607 returnees were collected and sent to Patna for Covid test. The remaining 102 were still ‘missing’. The travel history showed that they had returned from Dubai, Oman, Bahrain and Malaysia.
Siwan medical officer Rizwan Ahmad said 988 people returned to Siwan from the Gult countries. The swab samples of majority of them were sent to Patna for mandatory test and the reports have confirmed them negative. Six people — two from Barharia and one each from Hasanpura, Darauli, Raghunathpur and Nautan blocks — have travel history.
“Though 29 cases have been reported from the district, only six of them have travel history. The remaining contracted the deadly virus from those people,” he added.
Former director of AN Sinha Institute, Dr D M Diwakar, said the people emigrating from Siwan and Gopalganj were semi-skilled and unskilled labourers. “The figures of passport applications from the two neighbouring districts reflect ‘jobless growth’ in Bihar,” he said.
(With inputs from Sheezan Nezami)