How Bihar govt is housing people unable to return to villages amid coronavirus
In order to house people unable to return home to villages amid the coronavirus outbreak, the government has converted 202 schools across Bihar into quarantine facilities.
In the last two days, the Bihar government has instructed all district magistrates to convert government schools into quarantine facilities. This move was taken to combat the rising number of coronavirus cases in the State and the country.
The order to convert schools was made after realising that people were unsuccessful in returning to their villages, since they were arriving from different parts of the country. The State has reported four positive cases of COVID-19 and one death, as of March 26. There has also been a State-wide, government-ordered lockdown of all districts, subdivisions, and block headquarters.
"People should stay home for a healthy India as we should stop the spread of COVID-19 at the community level. Villagers coming in from different parts of the country should live in schools,” said Amir Subhani, Home Secretary of Bihar, told Republic World.
Core meeting to discuss COVID-19 with Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Bihar, Friday. (Image: Hindustan Times)
Consequent to this, schools across 101 panchayats have been converted to quarantine facilities. Two schools have been converted in each panchayat, with the total number of facilities standing at 202. The purpose of this is to safely accommodate suspected patients in the case that they display symptoms of the virus in its primary stage.
"The government is effectively implementing social distancing and isolation measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the district," affirmed Civil Surgeon Dr Purushottam Kumar, according to Edex Live.
The people of Bihar can also locally seek medical information regarding the coronavirus from doctors, medical officials, and district health officials. The district administration, for this purpose, developed Hunting Line, a tool to find virus suspects, as well as impart health-related information and advice. With the implementation of Hunting Line, anybody can dial 06344-228442 and be put to one out of five connections.
The surgeon also stated that, as of March 25, more than 80 pieces of information regarding suspected COVID-19 patients have been reported via Hunting Line within 48 hours. He also said that medical members of the Rapid Action Task Forces have been moved to square on suspected coronavirus patients to send them to the newly-converted home quarantines. The team is also arranging to collect blood samples for verification.
(Edited by Kanishk Singh)
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