Coronavirus | Bihar braces for second wave of COVID-19

With the COVID-19 numbers gradually rising in Bihar amid apprehensions over a second wave of the pandemic, the State Health Department has cancelled the leave of all doctors and health workers till April 5 with immediate effect.

The order cancels leave of all Medical Officers, Principals, Superintendents, doctors, nurses, paramedical staff, and other technicians and assistants.

Health workers on leave have also been asked to report to duty as soon as possible. However, those on maternity and study leave have been excluded from the purview of the order. “The leave of doctors and health workers has been cancelled to maintain special vigil and surveillance to contain the spread of second wave of the pandemic,” said the order issued by Anil Kumar, Joint Secretary, State Health Department.

On March 17, following an interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the COVID-19 situation across the country, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had said that the “situation in the State is under control but we should be careful”.

“Bihar government is alert and has decided to increase the number of daily COVID-19 tests. We will soon hold a meeting at the district-level, too, on the situation of COVID-19, and it has been decided to take the number of daily tests to 70,000 again,” said Mr. Kumar. He also added that “since Holi (festival) is round the corner, people will be visiting the State from different places. We have to be careful”.

Earlier, the State government had made it mandatory for those travelling to Bihar from Kerala, Punjab and Maharashtra to show their RT-PCR test report. “Passengers without report will be required to undergo a rapid antigen test upon arrival and anyone testing positive for the disease will be sent to isolation centres,” said the government’s order.

On Thursday, 107 new cases of COVID-19 had been reported in the State. Bihar, so far, has reported 2,63,265 COVID-19 cases with 1,555 deaths and a recovery rate of 99.26%