Rapid antigen test for Covid was made mandatory for travellers entering Jharkhand from Bengal at the inter-state check points bordering Paschim Bardhaman and Nirsa block in the Dhanbad district.

Following the directive of the Dhanbad deputy commissioner and chairperson district disaster management authority, Uma Shankar Singh, medical booths had been set up at Chirkunda-Panchet (along old GT Road) and at Maithon (along NH-2).

“We carried out a special Rapid Antigen Test drive in different parts of the city on Tuesday which also included the two inter-state check points of Chirkunda and NH-2. However from September 9 onward any visitor entering the district from Bengal will have to undergo a rapid antigen test for Covid at the medical booths. We will be monitoring if the testing is done for all visitors or not through the high definition CCTVs installed at the checkpoints. These are steps to curb the spread of Covid infection in the district,” said Uma Shankar Singh.

Significantly, the district administration had installed two CCTVs each at both Chirkunda-Panchet and NH-2 near Maithon on July 22 to contain the spread of Covid. The CCTV footage is being monitored at the Covid-19 control room functional in Circuit House building 24x7 to ensure that all those entering from Bengal have their valid e-passes giving strong reasons for coming to Dhanbad checked thoroughly.

Incidentally, the first Covid-19 positive case detected in Kumardhubi block in Dhanbad on April 8 was also a migrant worker who had returned from Asansol (headquarter of Paschim Bardhaman). Even the state health secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni had in July blamed people coming from Bengal and Bihar for spurt in Covid-19 cases in Jharkhand.

Sources in the Dhanbad district transport office revealed that even during the current phase of lockdown over 50,000 vehicles (including heavy vehicles) cross the NH-2 and Old GT Road along the checkpoints between Dhanbad and Bengal on an average daily.

Sources in the district administration informed that a three-member team from Union health ministry who had been to Dhanbad on Saturday and Sunday had also suggested the district health department to undertake rapid antigen test of all visitors coming to Dhanbad from outside as part of measures to check spread of Covid-19.

“The special rapid antigen test drive at NH-2 near Maithon and at Chirkunda will be conducted from morning till evening 8pm while from September 9 it will function 24x7. Visitors will be taken for collection of throat and nasal swab at the temporary medical booths. Usually a rapid antigen test report will arrive in less than 15 minutes,” said Dhanbad additional collector Shyam Narayan Ram.

As on September 8, Dhanbad had 3,424 Covid positive cases and 36 deaths. While the state figure had 52,644, Covid positive cases and 484 deaths.