Gujarat: 15 migrants held for rioting in Vareli village are Covid positive

SURAT: As many as 15 migrants of the 204 who were arrested for rioting in Vareli village adjoining Surat on May 4 have tested positive for coronavirus, stoking fears that large number of people living in the rural areas near the city might have been infected.
However, due to lack of testing, these cases remain largely undetected. Surat rural areas have 43 positive cases already.
Most of these migrants are from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Similar is the case about migrant workers who returned to their native states in buses and trains. An example of this is the case of large numbers of those who reached Odisha from Surat testing positive for coronavirus, sources said.
"These 15 accused must have infected hundreds of people in Vareli during rioting. Then there are many undetected positive persons in the society already. The state government should increase testing. asymptomatic patients who that the can be home quarantined to reduce burden on government hospitals," Indian Medical Association (Gujarat) president Dr Chandresh Jardosh said.
"We are conducting testing as per government policy. Those found positive are being kept in isolation the he New Civil Hospital," said M N Lakhani, in-charge chief district health officer, Surat.
Migrants in Surat have resorted to angry protests several times since the lockdown imposed on March 23.
In Vareli, the migrants were already enraged at being sent back from the state’s borders and they had resorted to heavy stone-pelting and vandalism. Vareli is a textile manufacturing cluster adjoining Surat.