Woman migrant worker found dead near Covid-19 quarantine centre in Odisha

Odisha migrants’ tragic tryst with quarantine centres continued with a woman migrant worker from Nuapada district found dead near a quarantine centre on Wednesday.

The police said Subarna Majhi (30), who had arrived in Odisha from Telangana on June 4, was found dead near the quarantine centre in Khariar block of the district. Majhi (30), wife of Kanhu Majhi of Dabri village, had checked into the quarantine centre at Malapada village along with family members for institutional quarantine on June 4.

The police sent the body for post-mortem and started an investigation into the incident. Sarpanch Radhe Rana said the district administration has been informed about the woman’s death near.

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This is the 19th such death across various quarantine centres in Odisha since May when migrant workers started arriving in the state amid Covid-19 pandemic. In comparison, there have been just 11 deaths in Odisha due to Covid-19 so far.

In May, Odisha set up 16,813 quarantine centres in 6,798 gram-panchayats with provision of over 7.6 lakh beds to house incoming migrant workers. The state has made it mandatory for migrant workers in rural areas to stay in quarantine centres for 14 days. In some districts, the local authorities have extended the quarantine period from 14 days to 21 days as Covid-19 symptoms may take longer than 14 days to manifest in some cases.

While Ganjam district, the epicentre of Covid-19, has reported 11 deaths since May, Nuapada and Bhadrak districts have reported two deaths each. Of the 19 deaths, three were cases of suicide.

On May 15, a 40-year-old man of Mayurbhanj district who had returned from Vijaywada in Andhra Pradesh killed himself outside a quarantine centre after a tiff with his wife who stayed at the same centre.