Uttarakhand fears surge in cases as migrants start to return

DEHRADUN: After five migrants who returned to Uttarakhand in the last two days tested positive for coronavirus, the state government now fears that the number may go up with an exodus of labourers coming back to the state.

Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said, “The government is expecting around 225,000 people to return to the state from different parts of the country, out of which it is being anticipated that 25,000 people could be infected. We cannot leave our people on the roads. We are preparing for the situation.”

Officials from the state government said that the health department is making all preparations to boost the infrastructure by installing intensive care units and ventilators at government hospitals across 13 districts of the hill state.

On May 7, four people reached Chinyalisaur in Uttarkashi district from Surat on bikes. Later, a 32-year-old man from the group was isolated at district hospital after he showed symptoms and three others were quarantined at a health facility. The man who was isolated in hospital tested positive on Sunday.

This is the first case in the district of Uttarkashi which was a green zone. Till date, total of 68 positive cases have been reported from Uttarakhand with 21 active cases. Total 46 patients have recovered so far.
Earlier, on Saturday, four persons including those who returned from Gujarat, Haryana and Mumbai to Udham Singh Nagar district had tested positive.

Abhishek Tripathi, chief operational officer for Covid-19 in the state said, “We have increased our vigil and checking at border entry points of the state has been stepped up. Home quarantined people are being monitored on regular basis.”