Returning migrant workers push Uttar Pradesh coronavirus tally close to 5,000

As expected, the returning migrant workers have pushed the COVID-19 tally in Uttar Pradesh to nearly five thousand, setting off alarm bells among the officials.

According to the sources, so far over 700 migrant workers, who returned to the state from different parts in the country in the past few days, have tested positive for coronavirus.

''Almost one thousand coronavirus positive cases have been reported in the state in the past five days.....a majority of them are the returning migrant workers,'' said a senior health official on Wednesday.

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Sources said that lakhs of migrant workers had reached their native villages in the past few days on foot, on trucks and by own transport without being tested.

''While those arriving from the shramik special trains are screened before being put under quarantine, a large number of workers, who arrived from other means, were not screened,'' the official added.

In Basti district alone, as many as 44 migrant workers tested positive on Tuesday, sources said. Similarly, of the ten people testing positive for the virus in Lucknow, nine were migrant workers.

Sources said that the number of positive cases could witness a sharp spike in the days to come after more migrant workers are tested.

To make matter worse, the migrant workers continued to arrive in the state riding trucks, cycles, auto-rickshaws and even by foot despite UP government's strict direction to the officials to ensure that the workers are sent home in buses only.