Rajasthan had recently reported a 75 per cent recovery rate of COVID-19, higher than the national average of 50.59 per cent.

According to the health department, three out of four people have been cured. The national average is of 50.59 per cent with 162,378 COVID-19 patients discharged from hospitals across the country, while in Rajasthan out of the 12,401 infections, there are 2,782 active cases, 9,337 people have recovered and 282 people succumbed to the disease.

Rajasthan’s Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot spoke to The Logical Indian on the challenges that the state government is facing amid the coronavirus outbreak and the measures being taken to contain and curb the transmission of the virus.

While the state has been on a road to recovery with 9,631 COVID-19 patients recovered from the deadly disease, a majority of the coronavirus cases have reportedly been from the migrants who travelled from different parts of the country to the state.

Addressing the issue of managing the migrant exodus, the chief minister said that the migrant movement has definitely added to the number of corona cases but the state government is proactively engaged in regulating the safe entry of the migrant workers.

Precautions include online entry of all such entrants, proper transportation with social distancing, screening, 14 days home quarantine, IT-based monitoring of any violations of quarantine norms and extensive testing in the areas where migrant inflow is sizable.

Talking about the process followed to ensure quarantine to the returning workers, CM Gehlot stated that all the migrants are required to undergo 14 days home quarantine. In addition, the people who have any contact history or Influenza-like illness (ILI) symptoms are also required to remain in-home quarantine.

For those who don’t have home quarantine facility, they can avail institutional quarantine facility set up by the state government. He mentioned that presently more than 10,000 institutional quarantine centres are available. Additionally, quarantine violations are monitored through IT-based systems and violations are being dealt with firmness.

‘Rajasthan has created an online platform to register migrants including workers who wanted to come to and go out of Rajasthan. More than 24 lakh migrants of different categories have registered themselves on this platform,’ he informed.

Initially, only five trains were provided for Rajasthan. The state government then started free of cost Shramik Special Buses to accelerate this process. These buses are being operated as per requirements in different districts.

Arrangements of food, water, lodging have been made at different places so that workers do not have to walk and remain inaccessible to the basic facilities.

The deployment of Shramik Special Buses has eased out the situation substantially. The state war room is contacting each person who registered for travel in and out of Rajasthan.

Gehlot stressed on the fact that there is an increase in the inflow of people by various modes, the possibility of an increase in the number of coronavirus cases have risen too.

‘Nonetheless the government cannot be oblivious of the needs of people stuck up for a long period of time. We have put in place detailed guidelines for handling the inflow of passengers by domestic flights,’ he added.

People who are coming for a longer stay are required to undergo home quarantine of 14 days. The guidelines also point out that passengers coming for a period shorter than seven days are required to carry a negative corona test-report which is not older than two days of arrival and if a passenger is not carrying such test report than that person is sent to quarantine and made to undergo a corona test immediately on arrival.

The minister further specified that quarantine management has been a high-priority concern for his government. He details the strategy that state level, district level, subdivision level and panchayat level quarantine committees have been formed to ensure effective implementation.

There is an online system of monitoring to ensure 100% compliance of quarantine norms. Also, strict action is taken for any violation of quarantine norms and according to him, actions have been taken in more than 1300 cases of breach of quarantine.

The worst-hit sections of the society are the marginalised people who have been made to suffer during the coronavirus lockdown, to cater to the livelihood problems of the poor and deprived sections, the state government is surveying such roadside vendors and people of other such 37 categories who have lost their employment.

‘This is to ensure that free of cost wheat may be provided to them. It is the endeavour of the state government that no person should sleep hungry,’ he added.

The Rajasthan government has deposited Rs. 2500 each in the accounts of nearly 33 lakh people who are not covered under the social security pension schemes. Those people who did not have the bank accounts were given cash through the district…