Representative image (ANI)
PATNA/RANCHI: The number of migrant workers testing positive for Covid-19 since returning to their native Bihar on Monday increased to 651, or 8% of the 8,337 results that have come in so far from the initial lot of 11,800 samples randomly collected from among 7.4 lakh returnees.
Hypothetically, if the rate holds up and all migrant workers are tested, Bihar could be staring at a mountain of Covid cases upwards of 55,000.
CM Nitish Kumar has asked the health department to raise the testing rate by around 1,000 a day. Seven government medical institutions are currently testing an average of 2,000 samples a day.
In neighbouring Jharkhand, the same pattern of migrant workers accounting for the bulk of new cases seems to be emerging, although the size of its basket is only a fraction of Bihar’s.
Around 4pm on May 10, officials in Hazari