Pb, C'garh CMs say managing incoming migrants biggest challenge in COVID-19 containment

With the country witnessing record single-day spike in coronavirus cases for three days in a row, Chief Ministers of Punjab and Chhattisgarh said movement of migrants and their management was the biggest challenge in the containment of the infection.

While Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said the recent surge in COVID-19 cases in his state was due to incoming migrants testing positive, his Punjab counterpart Amarinder Singh said it was expected that the states from where workers were returning would test them before allowing them to go home.

"The biggest challenge right now is the large influx of people from other states and from outside India," Amarinder Singh told PTI, adding that these home-bound people included a large number of migrants who had gone outside the state in search of work.

"We don't really know how dependable that is," he said, adding that in the case of Nanded pilgrims the Maharashtra government failed to conduct necessary tests.

A large chunk of the 4,000 pilgrims who returned to Punjab from Hazur Sahib gurdwara in Maharashtra's Nanded have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Baghel told PTI, "Managing and handling incoming migrants is the biggest challenge for the state at present. There are concerns over them sneaking into villages."