The Hazaribagh administration on Saturday confirmed seven new Covid-19 patients in the district and said they had all returned from Mumbai with different groups of people who went to their villages without informing the authorities.

Deputy commissioner (DC) Bhuvnesh Pratap Singh said all the seven patients had been shifted to Hazaribagh Medical College and Hospital (HMCH) after their reports came positive on Friday evening and efforts were on to trace their contacts.

Singh urged all of them to stay indoors during Id and follow the lockdown rules to remain safe.

The seven persons are residents of different villages in Ichak, Chouparan, Sadar and Padma blocks and arrived in vehicles carrying migrant labourers. “We are trying to track down all those who came in contact with the seven persons as soon as possible,” the DC said.

Singh said around 12,000 migrant labourers were supposed to return to the district in the next five days.

“Migrants in large numbers are returning to the district daily and are being screened at the two camps — one at Chordaha interstate check post on GT Road in Chouparan and another at St Columba’s college ground in town,” the DC said.

He said a TrueNat machine, which gives results in an hour, would be used for Covid-19 tests at HMCH.

Superintendent of police (SP) Karthik S. urged people to celebrate Eid peacefully at home.

He said besides Jharkhand police jawans, Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel would be deployed to ensure a peaceful festival.

On Saturday afternoon, Sadar subdivisional officer Megha Bhardwaj chaired a meeting with members of the Muslim community and |requested them to celebrate indoors.

She also urged everyone to inform the administration about people returning from other places.

The district now has 40 Covid-19 cases, out of which three have been discharged from the hospital after recovering from the disease.