In Jharkhand, no districts are presently under Red Zone category, while 21 districts out of 24 are presently in Orange Zone and three districts are in Green Zone category as per the protocols set by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, which is a positive sign towards fighting the battle against COVID-19.

After the recent classification of districts in specific zones, the State Health Secretary Dr Nitin Kulkarni has instructed to immediately start the OPD services in all government hospitals of the state without fail. Although the number of positive cases continues to rise with the homecoming of migrant labourers in the state with 22 new cases reported last night taking the total count of COVID-19 to 330 in Jharkhand.

Dr Kulkarni said that it is a positive sign that they have been able to filter and detect more number of COVID patients among the migrants and labourers. He also said that the maximum number of positive cases have been detected from migrants coming from Mumbai. Around 3.15 lakh migrants have returned to the state so far through various modes including Shramik Special Trains, inter-state bus services, e-passes issued for individual medium of travel and a few stranded through flights operated under Vande Bharat Mission.

One lakh 38 thousand 564 migrant labourers have returned through 103 Shramik Special Trains that have terminated in Jharkhand since May 1. More than 83 Shramik Special trains are scheduled to reach Jharkhand till June 30 after the assimilation of the new guidelines from the Central Government and Ministry of Railways.

In total, 200 Shramik trains will bring around 2.70 lakhs migrants to the state. The State Government is also issuing e-passes to private vehicles, in which around 51,000 people have been allowed to commute for inter-state movement and 1.6 lakh applications have been executed for inter-district movements.

Meanwhile government has said that the decision of nationwide lockdown has helped contain the spread of COVID-19 in the country. In a press briefing by Health Ministry, Dr. V K Paul, Chairman of one of the empowered groups formed for handling COVID related matters, said, doubling rate of Covid-19 cases was 3.4 days when lockdown was started and it is now at 13.3 days.

He said, the lockdown proved gainful in terms of preparedness. He said that 80 per cent of the novel corona virus cases are concentrated in primarily five states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh. Mr. Paul informed that Covid-19 specific health infrastructure was created, testing capacity was increased, healthcare workers gained experience and confidence to fight with the virus due to the nationwide lockdown.

Mr. Paul said, 10 crore people are using Arogya Setu app and telemedicine is increasing day by day. He said, one crore treatments have been done under the Ayushman Bharat, Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana which is a great achievement. Dr. Paul infomred that 14 thousand Health and Wellness centres have been commissioned so far.