GUWAHATI: With the COVID-19 situation in Guwahati turning “serious”, the Assam government has decided to conduct 50,000 random tests in the city in the next 15 days.
Announcing this on Saturday, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told journalists that the situation in Guwahati was a matter of “grave concern” as 25 people in the city had tested positive for the disease without having any recent travel history.
He said the 50,000 tests would be conducted at 12 government healthcare facilities including Gauhati Medical College and Hospital. Anyone who has a doubt can go for the test, he said.
“If after conducting the 50,000 tests, we find, say around 500 positive cases, we have to take a call. We don’t want to harm the economy but if the situation so warrants, we will not shy away from enforcing a lockdown. The residents should be prepared for it,” Sarma said.
He said he had already discussed the Guwahati situation with Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Chief Secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna.
“Following an analysis, we observed that the cases in Guwahati were linked to the sites of loading and unloading by trucks and their parking. So, loading and unloading have a direct or indirect connection to the cases,” the Minister said.
There are 153 godowns in Guwahati and Sarma said it usually takes about three to four days to load and unload goods.
“We cannot quarantine them (truck drivers) as per the guidelines issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. But we have decided to conduct the tests there. We have passed instructions to district authorities to collect samples from all areas where loading and unloading of goods takes place. It can be surmised that these places are the epicenters of the disease. Similarly, the dhabas, where people travelling by road eat, are also under our scanner,” Sarma said.
He informed that the state government had written to the Civil Aviation Ministry to restrict the number of per day flights to Guwahati to 25. This will help in maintaining social distancing, he said.
On Friday, the citizens at a Guwahati locality had staged a protest when the health workers came with the bodies of two COVID-19 victims for cremation. Sarma said the fear of the people was not based on scientific grounds.
“If bodies are consigned to flames, the virus cannot survive. If cremation is thwarted, it puts Assam in a bad light outside. I appeal to people not to thwart cremation. As the Health Minister of the state, I tell you fire kills the virus. Similarly, if bodies are buried, the virus cannot come out from underneath,” he said.