COVID-19: Spitting habit of people quarantined in Assam hospital raises alarm

The state’s Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma made an appeal to their guardians to make them understand that they might infect others by this act.
A security person punishes two youths for flouting the lockdown rules, imposed in the wake of coronavirus pandemic, in Guwahati. (Photo | PTI)
A security person punishes two youths for flouting the lockdown rules, imposed in the wake of coronavirus pandemic, in Guwahati. (Photo | PTI)

GUWAHATI: Some people quarantined at an Assam hospital for COVID-19 were found spitting around, raising fears about community transmission.

The state’s Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma made an appeal to their guardians to make them understand that they might infect others by this act.

“Many people being quarantined at the Civil Hospital, Golaghat are spitting around. I feel their guardians should make them understand on the phone that their act could infect others. Nobody should do this. I am really sad,” Sarma told journalists on Friday.

Comparing those who had tested positive with “human bombs”, he said they would infect the society if they ventured out of hospital.

Assam recorded four positive cases – three in Nalbari and one in South Salmara – on Friday, taking the number of confirmed cases to 20, all of them linked to the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi.

The highest number of people from the state, who had attended the congregation, was from Golaghat. Sarma said some of the people from the district had not yet returned to the state.

“When they arrive, we have to minutely check them. They will be first quarantined followed by medical examinations. The society must not think somebody is being targeted. There is an outbreak of the virus and it could infect anybody. I might also get infected,” the minister said.

He rubbished allegations that people being quarantined in hospitals and elsewhere were not being fed well and that the doctors were not checking them properly stating that the entire process of treatment was being filmed. Stating that there should not be any politics on the issue, he said he had visited all hospitals and fixed the diet. He said he was constantly monitoring everything.

“Some people said they were kept in the hospital without any reason as they hadn’t shown any symptoms of COVID-19. They should read books to learn that humans are the carriers of the virus,” Sarma said, adding, “Nobody is doing any injustice to those being quarantined. I have advised doctors to explain the disease to them.”

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