Migrant workers return, bring home the virus: How states are building Covid walls

RAIPUR/MANDYA/JAIPUR: Fourteen migrant workers in institutional quarantine since returning to their native Chhattisgarh tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday, but even more alarming was the spectre of infections travelling undetected across inter-state borders as Karnataka and Rajasthan on Monday reported three new cases where the returnees had sneaked in without being screened.
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The fresh cases in Chhattisgarh represent the biggest spike in the state’s coronavirus cycle, coming when only seven patients were left in hospital. With another person testing positive on Monday, Chhattisgarh’s Covid count now stands at 55. Before the 14 migrant workers, three returnees from Jharkhand had tested positive.
In Karnataka’s Mandya, two people tested positive just over 10 days after violating the lockdown to drive down to their village from Mumbai. Deputy commissioner Venkatesh said they arrived in Karnataka along with some family members in the same car on April 23.
Both have been shifted to the isolation ward of Mandya Medical College. “We are trying to identify and locate the primary and secondary contacts of these patients,” Venkatesh said.
Rajasthan, too, braced for a potential spread of Covid-19 through migrant workers illegally coming in from Gujarat after a native of Kasba village in Dungarpur became the tribal district’s sixth positive case.
Officials said the patient had crossed over on April 17, after which someone reported him to the health authorities. He was put in institutional quarantine after being caught roaming about on April 23. His first report on April 24 was negative, but the second sample taken on Sunday came out positive. The village has been sealed. “Many migrant workers are walking back to Rajasthan from Gujarat, using country roads to skirt the border checkpoints,” district chief medical health officer Mahesh Parmar said.
On Monday, the Ratanpur checkpoint on the Rajasthan-Gujarat border was chock-a-block with migrant workers for the eighth consecutive day. Long queues for registration and screening and fear of being put in quarantine are driving some migrant workers to try and sneak in through other routes, an official said.
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HOW STATES ARE BUILDING COVID WALLS
TOI does a reality check on screening, testing and quarantining protocols adopted by states sending people by train or road and those receiving them.
MAHARASHTRA
➤ Outbound migrants need to submit registration forms in groups of 25 to the police or district collector; they also need a medical certificate
➤ The government sends evacuation requests to the home states of workers, seeking permission to send the group
➤ Once nod is received, the designated officer gets in touch with the rlys and identifies a station and time for the train
RAJASTHAN
➤ Among first states to set up a registration helpline for inbound and outbound migrants; the helpline has so far received 10 lakh calls, including 7 lakh from inbound workers
➤ State is preparing a database of its migrant workers – district and state-wise – to arrange transport for them; no health certificate required
➤ Returnees being screened and registered at 15 border checkpoints before being allowed to board state buses
MP & CHHATTISGARH
➤ Nobody needs to produce a medical certificate; returnees are asked to show ID proof, provide bank details
➤ Screening on arrival constitutes a body temperature check and filling in a questionnaire on ailments, travel history etc; home quarantine for 14 days
KARNATAKA
➤ Bengaluru Police collecting data of migrant workers in various camps
➤ Health teams visit labour camps for screening; those cleared for return get priority if they register through the ‘Seva Sindhu’ and ‘Aarogya Setu apps
’ ➤ Anyone wanting to return to Karnataka needs to register through the Seva Sindhu app or website; nodal officers appointed for specific states
GUJARAT
➤ Migrant workers wanting to leave have to register on a portal for permission to travel
➤ Each person is required to carry a medical certificate issued at community health centres one or two days before the scheduled departure
➤ Mandatory temperature check at the railway station or bus depot; those with symptoms not allowed to board
AP & TELANGANA
➤ Migrant workers wanting to leave need to approach local police or tehsildar to register; medical certificate and transit pass mandatory to leave the state
➤ Telangana has border checkpoints where health teams conduct screening and check health certificates, which should also mention if the returnee has stayed in a red zone
➤ Proof of address and purpose of visit mandatory
KERALA
➤ Health department has set up counters to screen those leaving by train; anyone with flu-like symptoms can’t travel
➤ Only Keralites from other states are currently allowed to return after registering through a website for passes; no health certificate required
➤ Screening at all entry points is a must
WEST BENGAL
➤ All returnees to be sent to institutional quarantine for 14 days
➤ Strategy on migrant workers returning from a containment zone still unclear
ODISHA
➤ For anyone registering to leave, government will take prior approval from the person’s native state; screening mandatory but no medical certificate will be issued
➤ Aadhar number mandatory while registering to return; Odisha is registering returnees through a portal
GOA
➤ Mandatory institutional quarantine after testing on arrival for anyone entering the state
➤ Quarantine accommodation free only for those producing proof of address in Goa; they have to pay for food
➤ Non-Goans to be charged 2,500 a day per person for period of quarantine