Nitish favours extension of lockdown in meeting with PM

Patna, May 11 () Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumaron Monday favoured extending the COVID 19-induced lockdowntill the end of May, underscoring that it would help the statebring under control the situation that has arisen with nativesreturning on a large scale, officials said.

Speaking at a video conference Prime Minister NarendraModi had with chief ministers, Kumar made it clear that thestate will be in agreement" with whatever decision the Centretook with respect to the lockdown but extending it would behelpful.

He also highlighted various relaxations the state hadoffered during the lockdown for easing the hardships faced bypeople and for resumption of economic activities.

Thanking the prime minister for running 'ShramikSpecial' trains to facilitate the journey back home of migrantworkers, students and pilgrims from places where they had gotstuck following the lockdown, Kumar said 1.14 lakh people havecome back to Bihar by as many as 96 trains.

He also said that 179 trains are likely to arrive inthe state during the week, and urged the Centre to runadditional rakes so that the return of all migrants could becompleted in the next 7-8 days.

Kumar said there was a surge in incidence of COVID-19following the influx of people from other states and abroad,with the number of confirmed cases crossing the 700 mark.

We have conducted random testing of 1,900 returnees,of whom 148 have tested positive, he noted.

He said the state's testing capacity needed to beenhanced drastically.

"On an average 1,800 samples are being tested dailyand we want to raise it to 10,000. We hope that ourrequisition for additional RT-PCR machines, and the kits usedin these as well as RNA extraction are fulfilled at theearliest," Kumar was quoted by officials as having told themeeting.

He also said the state had requested for 100ventilators.

Kumar also appreciated the concerted efforts made bythe Centre and the states in combating the pandemic and laudedstate governments for discharging their duties well during thecrisis. NACSK SK