A total of 48 new persons have tested positive for COVID-19 from Jaipur District Jail on Saturday amongst the 55 new corona cases registered in the city taking the total tally of the state capital to 1,440, said additional chief secretary Rohit Kumar Singh, adding that the state now has 4,838 patients in total. Out of this 350 are migrants who came from different states to Rajasthan, he said.
Jalore, a green zone till the start of May, has registered the highest number of migrants till date at 63, Pali had 37 while Rajsamand and Dungarpar had 28 migrants testing positive till Saturday.
Sirohi, again green zone till a few days back, also had 24 new cases which are all migrants. Similarly, Jhunjhunu which became corona free a few days back, had 12 active cases out of which 10 are migrants.
Looking at the big number of migrants coming back to Rajasthan, state health minister said that each migrant will have to quarantine himself for 14 days.
Sounding a note of caution, he said, "The return of the migrants does present a challenge and the government has therefore set quarantine as its priority."
"The health department is now focussing on strengthening quarantine facilities. The migrants are welcome in Rajasthan but they have to undergo 14-day quarantine period compulsorily to ensure people in the state who met all guidelines during the lockdown in the last 50 days to keep them safe, do not get infected," he said.
The state minister urged the local representatives to ensure adequate quarantine facilities are in place in their respective areas.
Meanwhile, chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday night said that those going from one district to another need not quarantine themselves. He directed officials to understand the challenges of migrants and hence should implement best practices in quarantine centres.
( With inputs from IANS )