Migrants account for at least 94 percent of the new COVID-19 cases reported in Bihar on Friday. Out of 211 new novel coronavirus patients detected in Bihar in the last 24 hours, 200 cases are that of migrants. These figures are alarming. This is the highest number of COVID-19 patients found in a day in the last two months.
The trend of a sharp increase in COVID-19 patients is equally worrisome. In the first 50 days, around 500 COVID-19 positive cases were detected in Bihar. However, in the last three days, 500 new cases have emerged. This itself explains the quantum jump in the number of coronavirus cases here.
The steep hike in the number of COVID-19 cases here has been attributed to the large influx of migrants who have come over here from different States since May 2.
According to a government estimate, around seven lakh migrants have come to Bihar in the last three weeks. “Out of which, samples of 12,000 were collected. Till date, around 1,200 migrants have been found to be novel coronavirus positive. Of these 1,200, more than 300 have come from Delhi, while around 250 from Maharashtra,” said a government source, wishing not to be identified.
The only solace is out of 1,987 COVID-19 cases so far here, 593 have fully recovered. “Of the rest (active cases), around 75 percent are migrants,” the source lamented.
Bihar has so far tested 55,692 cases. Initially, the state showed a negligible number of COVID-19 patients, many of whom recovered after being quarantined. However, as of today, Bihar is inching towards the 2,000-mark of COVID-19 patients. This excludes ten deaths so far in the state.