Migrant worker quarantines self on a tree for 14 days

Ajmer (Rajasthan): A 24-year-old migrant worker, who had walked around 200 km from Ajmer district to his village in Bhilwara after the lockdown was extended, has spent his mandatory 14-day quarantine on a 'machaan' built on a tree.

Kamlesh Meena had reached Sherpura village in Jahajpur tehsil on foot from Kishangarh in Ajmer on April 16, amid the lockdown imposed in the country to combat coronavirus.

But residents stopped him from entering the village over fears that he might have contracted the COVID-19 infection, and summoned a medical team from a community health centre to have him screened.

When the health workers asked him to shift to a quarantine centre in Bhilwara for 14 days, the villagers decided to arrange his stay and quarantine in the fields at a distance from the houses.

The villagers and Meena's family members erected a 'machaan' (a temporary platform) with bamboo on a tree for him and his father, Sagarmal, made arrangements for food, water and other essential items during the quarantine period.

"Kamlesh has completed his 14-day quarantine. A medical team visited him every day for examination. He did not contract the infection and is living with his family now," said Panchayat Elementary Education Officer Sheojiram Meena, who is also the in-charge of COVID-19 control in Sherpura.

The man, a tractor driver, had set out on foot from Ajmer after the lockdown was extended on April 14.

As Bhilwara had emerged as a coronavirus hotspot in the state, the focus of the authorities has been on containing the disease.

Till date, Bhilwara has reported 37 COVID-19 cases, with only two deaths. Twenty-four people have been discharged and four active cases remain.

Rajasthan has reported 3,099 cases and 82 deaths so far.

The entire state is under a lockdown since March 22. Massive screening and survey is underway to trace the contagion.