Coronavirus Outbreak: UP, Bihar govts to quarantine migrant workers in camps for 14 days

The Yogi Adityanath government of Uttar Pradesh has directed the district magistrates to trace over 1.5 lakh migrant workers, who have returned back to the state in the last three days, in order to quarantine them in state-run camps and make arrangements for food, water and all essentials, said an NDTV report.

Their names, addresses and phone numbers have been made available, and so far 65,000 calls have been made to village heads, the report added.

"All of these migrant labourers have to stay in government camps for 14 days. They would not be allowed to return to their homes," Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya was quoted as saying by NDTV.

Distressing accounts surfaced on Saturday night from the national capital where thousands of migrant workers, even while fearing for their lives due to virus spread, crowded into bus terminals around Delhi to return back to their hometowns and villages in after they were left with no jobs, shelter or money.

The migrant workers thronged the bus station to board some 500 buses arranged by the Uttar Pradesh and Delhi government to transport them to their hometowns.

The authorities swung into action after several narratives of men, women and children trekking on foot in searing heat to their villages surfaced after all types of public transport- including buses and passenger trains- were shut after the announcement of lockdown last Tuesday.

However, as of now, labourers are being thermal scanned to check if they have been infected by coronavirus and only those with symptoms of a possible coronavirus infection are being quarantined.

As few batches reached eastern UP's Deoria district, many of them were allowed to go to their homes after thermal scanning. Doctors and health workers screened the labourers, one-by-one, who stood in queues for the test, said reports. 

In Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has directed setting up of camps in the bordering districts of the state to quarantine the returning migrant labourers. There was apprehension among the local people about the people returning from the northern states, especially because the deadly coronavirus infection has spread rapidly as infected people travelled to new areas.

Bihar Chief Minister has rejected the idea of migrant labourers to their native hometowns in special buses and trains arguing that such a move defeats the purpose of lockdown which has been called to arrest the spread of coronavirus.

He told NDTV that people should stay wherever they are and camps should be set up for them in those locations, adding that the Bihar government would reimburse the entire cost to anyone who organises such camps.