Dy collector's driver, workers among 14 test COVID-19 positive

With 14 more people, including the driver of a deputy collector and migrant workers, testing positive for coronavirus in Chhattisgarh on Wednesday, the tally in the state has risen to 115, health officials said.

While five cases were reported from Bilaspur, three from Raigarh district, two each from Balodabazar and Balod districts, one each from Rajnandgaon and Surguja districts, they said.

Earlier in the morning, the driver of a deputy collector in Rajnandgaon district tested positive for coronavirus, an official said.

The driver was with the deputy collector when the latter was deputed at Baghnadi checkpost on the Chhattisgarh- Maharashtra border, he said.

Thousands of migrant labourers from Maharashtra and southern states have been coming to Chhattisgarh on foot or in goods vehicles via the Baghnadi border area, where officials have been deployed for making arrangements for various facilities and their medical screening, he said.

Of the COVID-19 cases detected so far in Chhattisgarh, several are migrant labourers who have returned to the state from various parts of the country in view of the coronavirus-enforced lockdown, he said.

"Prima facie, it seems the driver contracted the disease from an infected migrant," he said.

The persons who tested positive for the infection in Bilaspur, Balod, Raigarh and Balodabazar on Wednesday are also migrant workers who recently returned home from other states, including Maharashtra, he said.

With the new cases, the COVID-19 count in the state has gone up to 115, of which 56 are active cases.

So far, 59 people have been discharged from hospitals after recovering from the disease, the official said.

No death has been reported so far due to the virus in the state, he added.

Chhattisgarh COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 115, new cases 14, deaths zero, discharged 59, active cases 56; people tested so far: 42,566.