GUWAHATI:
Assam has closed down all the makeshift
Covid care centres in the state keeping only the
Covid hospitals functioning with the pandemic situation now “under control” but, will tighten
test protocol for all incoming air, rail and road passengers to prevent an onslaught of a second wave of pandemic.
State health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said, “The Covid-19 situation is under control now but with second or third waves in some countries and other Indian states, we are on high alert. A second wave will not happen from within the state but from outside and so we are tightening the SoP to tests people arriving in the state by train, air or road.”
“At present we have already have a strict protocol in place at airports, which has been very fruitful. In Guwahati alone among an average of 40 positive cases daily, 20 to 22 have been detected among air passengers,” Sarma said.
Till Monday the cumulative count of positive cases in the state were 2,12,617 among which 2,08,283 patients have been discharged leaving just 3,850 active cases. The number of Covid-19 death till Monday was 981, which in terms of fatality rate is 0.46%. The state’s fatality rate is the lowest in the country and is better than the national rate of 1.46 per cent.
“Under the present improved situation, we have discontinued with all the
temporary Covid care centres, except the hospitals, which will continue to function. This decision has been taken in view of the decreasing number of positive people and also the onset of winter season, which is difficult time for those in the temporary Covid care centres,” Sarma said.