The Mamata Banerjee government has eased quarantine protocol further for those returning from Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat — five states with a high incidence of Covid-19 spread.

Now, swab tests would be done only on migrants from these states who develop symptoms in seven days of institutional quarantine. If they don’t develop symptoms, they will be sent to home quarantine for seven days after a health screening, a senior government official said.

In effect, the Covid-19 confirmatory test is no longer mandatory for all returnees from high-incidence states, only for those with symptoms.

This marks the third change in quarantine protocol in a short span of a little over a month. Initially, the state had decided to keep returnees from five high-incidence states to institutional quarantine centres for two weeks and discharge them after the confirmatory swab test. Later, the norm was eased as returnees had to take confirmatory tests after seven days in quarantine centres and those testing negative were sent home.

According to figures available with Nabanna, 140 trains with migrants from these five states have reached Bengal. Many migrants have come back by road.

A bureaucrat put the figure of returnees from these five states at 2.5 lakh-plus. “Either they have all come back or some will arrive soon, but the figure is over 2.5 lakh. It is no way possible to conduct a Covid-19 confirmation test of each and every returnee,” the bureaucrat added.

A health official hailed the change as “timely”. “Most people infected with Covid-19 develop symptoms within seven days. If they develop symptoms after release from quarantine centres, they can be brought to Covid-19 hospitals,” he said.

A source said that with Assembly polls looming, the ruling establishment was desperately trying to address the grievances of returnees. Returnees at many quarantine centres were up in arms against the government over alleged lack of food, water and other basics. “Migrants play a key role in rural politics as the local economy in many pockets depend on their remittances. All parties try to bring them under their fold. Making things easier for returnees is not unusual,” said a source.