Assam govt spreads ambit of contact tracing after new coronavirus cases emerge in Guwahati

GUWAHATI: Assam health authorities are spreading the Covid-19 contact tracing ambit further in Guwahati after finding 340 direct and indirect contacts of the 15 fresh positive cases reported on Thursday, but the search is on to trace at least 70 -80 contacts of a barber, who is an active case.
State health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “When one person from Fancybazar area tested positive on Monday, we traced out 32 contacts he had and took their swabs for test and 15 of them tested positive on Wednesday, which again led us to their 340 contacts, whose swabs have also been taken now for tests.”
“Our people did a perfect line listing with precision and we could test everyone in contact but this one barber from Kumarpara had come in contact with 70 to 80 persons. These people are being tracked. Moreover, we are also trying to trace everyone who had visited the four containment zones where the 15 positive people live and for that we are using the mobile tower data from every individual just like MHA had traced every Tablighi Jamaat attendee in Nizamuddin in Delhi,” Sarma said.
“For one positive case, we traced and tested 35 and for 15 positive cases, we are testing 340. If there is sizeable number of positive cases within the next six to seven days from these samples, then we can say that Guwahati is safe, but if the number rises, than the job becomes tougher but there is no need to panic,” Sarma said.
“I am appealing to the people that if they know they had been around these containment zones a few days back and now they are feeling uneasiness in breathing or have found to have lost the sense of smell or having fever or dry cough, call 104 and maintain self -restraint and stay indoors,” he said.