Seven Pakistani migrants, including four women, residing in Pratapnagar area of this city have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last three days, NGO Universal Just Action Society (UJAS) said on Sunday.
These seven Hindu migrants, all of whom have got Indian citizenship, were admitted to a hospital and their family members placed in institutional quarantine in Kuri, a volunteer of the NGO said.
About 15,000 immigrants from Pakistan reside in Jodhpur. Of these 8,000 are yet to get citizenship, said Ashok Suthar from UJAS which works for Pakistani Hindu migrants.
They stuck to the lockdown norms and were taking all precautionary measures. Hand sanitisers and soaps were distributed among them and instructed to wear masks, he said, adding since they live in clustered settlements, strict social distancing was practically not possible for them to follow but tried to adhere to it whenever possible.
"Besides this, doctors provided guidance and consultancy time to time to make them take every precaution. Because of this, not a single COVID-19 case was reported, at least among the non-citizens," Suthar said.
Most of these people are engaged in stonecarving and handicraft industires as daily wagers and the coronavirus-forced lockdown has hit them hard.
Initially, NGOs such as UJAS and Seemant Lok Sangthan arranged ration kits for them. Later, they started receiving government help.
"But we are not sure whether this government aid continue after the lockdown is lifted, as these people would need time to get work after the industries resume functioning," Suthar said.
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