GUWAHATI: There is no link between election campaign rallies and rising Covid-19 cases in Assam and studies have shown that not a single coronavirus case has been reported from places where rallies were held, Assam health minister
Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday, adding that no candidate in the state has been infected.
Assembly elections in the state were held on March 27 and April 1 & 7, and political parties campaigned across the state throughout the month of March till April 4.
Simultaneously, Covid-19 cases, which were at the lowest at 396 in February, climbed to 875 in March and had reached 4,528 till April 16. “We carried out studies to see if there was any link between election rallies and new
Covid cases, but found that not a single Covid-19 case has been reported from any of the rally venues. In my constituency, a rally was held at Suwalkuchi on April 4 and not a single Covid case has been reported from there so far,”
Himanta said.
“No one has established a link between rallies and Covid cases. What has been established is that the rise in cases in Assam is due to people who have carried the virus from outside the state and spread it in their families,” he added. Himanta said Assam’s Covid cases have been reported only from trading hubs or industrial centres like Guwahati,
Dibrugarh,
Jorhat, Tinsukia and towns where there are major railways stations and airports.