Uttar Pradesh: Testing times await as just 2.81% migrants sampled

According to officials, 30 testing labs have been collecting 7,500 samples daily for the past few days. They have attributed low testing to the state guideline that only those with symptoms will be tested for Covid-19.

When compared to the number of total samples taken in the last one week, around 27 per cent of the total specimens were of interstate migrant workers.

As per the data collected by The Indian Express, a total of 56,601 samples have been sent for Covid testing in the last one week, of which, 15,647 were of migrants — or 27.64 per cent of the total.

In the same period, as many as 1,816 people, including 779 migrants workers or 44.15 per cent, have tested positive. Since mid April, 1,820 interstate migrants have been infected.

Based on the data provided by health officials, 7,407 samples were tested on Tuesday. These included 676 pool samples — 589 with five samples each and 87 of 10 samples each.

When asked about the low testing among migrant workers, health officials said they were focussing only on symptomatic cases and sending the rest to home quarantine after thermal screening. However, the state had recently started random sampling to reach out to more migrants.

Earlier talking to The Indian Express a few district chief medical officers (CMOs) had confirmed that as per the changed guidelines, they were taking the address detail of every single migrant upon his arrival for random samples.

The person will be shifted to an L1 facility based on the result.

Principal Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad had earlier said that as per the protocol, asymptomatic returnees would be screened upon their arrival and sent on a 21-day home quarantine. If symptomatic, they would be tested and depending on the test result sent to Level-1 or higher centre for treatment, he had said.

According to Prasad, migrant workers in home quarantine would be monitored by Asha workers. Till date, Asha workers have tracked 9,60,933 interstate migrants in home quarantine, of whom, 945 have been found to have symptoms and are being tested.

State on cusp of 7,000 coronavirus cases

The number of positive cases in the state reached 6,991 on Wednesday with an addition of 269 new cases. The death toll reached 182 after one death each in Muzaffarnagar, Gorakhpur, Aligarh, Meerut and Ghaziabad.

According to a statement issued by the state health department, 3,991 coronavirus positive patients have been discharged from hospitals. The state’s recovery rate stands at 57.08 percent. The state now has 2,818 active cases. The mortality rate in the state is at 2.60 per cent.

Among the new cases, Hapur recorded the highest 29 cases, taking the count in the district to 138.

Meanwhile, at least 10 migrant workers, who returned from Tamil Nadu and were quarantined at a government college in Muzaffarnagar, have tested positive for coronavirus. Earlier, five workers at the same quarantine centre tested positive.

Muzaffarnagar Chief Medical Officer Dr Praveen Kumar Chopra said a majority of these migrant workers were engaged in selling clothes in Tamil Nadu.

Muzaffarnagar now has 35 active cases with 25 discharged.

With Amit Sharma