Rajasthan: Cement town Nimbahera is latest coronavirus hotspot

TNN | Updated: May 5, 2020, 07:25 IST

Policemen stand guard at a closed market in Nimbahera on Monday

JAIPUR: The cement town of Nimbahera in Chittorgarh has emerged as the latest Covid-19 hotspot in the state. It reported 89 positive cases and one death till Monday afternoon. The town was free from coronavirus till April 25. It has become the first tehsil to have been badly hit by the virus.
The town is bordering Madhya Pradesh and hundreds of migrant workers stranded in cement factories there are causing jitters to the administration. This has dashed hopes for the cement plant to operate under the modified lockdown.
The first case in the cement town was reported on April 26 of a trader who visited pandemic-hit Indore for a trade deal in the middle of April illegally. By the time his entire family was put under home isolation, the virus had spread in the entire area due to to comparatively relaxed lockdown in the town.
The trader later died while undergoing treatment in Udaipur. “It is unfortunate but true that so far all cases have emerged out of a single source. Almost 90% of the cases have reported from three small areas in the town,” said Inderjit Singh, the CMHO, Chittorgarh.
So far, 1,450 samples have been taken with 1,000 turned out to be negative while result of 350 is pending. The town, doesn’t have medical facility, that is why all patients have been sent to Udaipur.
Now, door-to-door screening by health workers has been started. Exact figures are not available but close to 1,000 persons have been home quarantined for 14 days and another 350 have been kept under isolation till their reports come.
The district administration which was hopeful to restart the closed cement plants will not have to wait indefinitely. The area has country’s four major cement plants.
Another fear which the administration is facing is of illegal entry of migrant workers and families from Madhya Pradesh into Rajasthan via Nimbahera.
The border town is so close to MP border that several households have their housed in Rajasthan and farmlands in MP.