Post-Amphan, Bengal tweaks protocol: home quarantine for migrants except from five states

On Wednesday, the Health Department revised standard operating procedures (SOPs) with new screening rules an emphasis on home quarantine.

As a large number of trains with migrant labourers started reaching West Bengal post-Cyclone Amphan, the state government has now decided to modify its screening and monitoring protocols for those coming from different states.

Before the cyclone had hit Bengal, the state used to send all returning migrant labourers to institutional quarantine, where they were provided food by the district administration. On Wednesday, the Health Department revised standard operating procedures (SOPs) with new screening rules an emphasis on home quarantine.

However, the government has enlisted five states as ‘high-burden Covid states’ — Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu — and those coming from there will have to mandatorily stay in a 14-day institutional quarantine.

“All arriving persons will be medically screened at the destination district. The district administration will put up proper facility for this purpose. Details of all arriving persons, including their residential addresses and phone numbers, will also be collected at this point. Special attention will be given to the medical screening of people arriving from five high-burden states — Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu,” the order stated.

“Those who will come from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh will have to stay in 14-day institutional quarantine. Others may stay in home quarantine,” Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said.

The order further said those who were not coming from the ‘high-burden states’ as well as were asymptomatic would undergo medical screening and would be allowed to go with an instruction for a strict 14-day home quarantine.

But people from the five ‘high burden states’ will be kept in institutional quarantine, possibly close to their residences, and their family members will be allowed to provide them food without coming in contact.

On Thursday, 20 Shramik Special trains arrived in Bengal from different states, carrying more than 25,000 migrant workers. The state government made arrangement for their medical screening and other formalities to restrict spreading of the Covid-19 virus.

A senior official of the state administration said, “No, lakhs of migrant workers will come back to Bengal. In this situation, we will not be able to arrange institutional quarantine for all migrant workers. So, we are stressing on home quarantine as much as possible. But, we will monitor each and every migrant worker day by day, check if they have any Covid-19 symptoms.”

Meanwhile, a 50-year-old woman, on board a special Shramik train, died while returning to West Bengal from New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh officials said on Thursday.

Etawah Chief Development Officer Raja Ganpati said a 50-year-old woman, Kita Sherpa, was found dead on a special train going to West Bengal’s New Jalpaiguri from New Delhi on Thursday morning.

The body has been sent for a post-mortem, he said.

“After the post-mortem, the body will be sent to New Jalpaiguri by road. The woman was accompanied by her two daughters, son-in-laws and a child,” he said.

In another development, hundreds of migrant workers from West Bengal on Thursday gathered at Jokatte industrial area outside Mangalore after getting information that a Shramik special train was scheduled to leave Mangaluru junction railway station for their home state.

The migrants, who later heard from authorities that the train has been cancelled, agitated at the place demanding alternative arrangements, police sources said.

Officials of the district information said the scheduled train was cancelled as the railway lines in the Bengal sector had been damaged due to the recent cyclone.

Later, police personnel who reached the spot later succeeded in pacifying the workers and sent them back to their places.

(With inputs from PTI)