Covid situation turning out 'stable' in Assam

GUWAHATI: The Covid situation in Assam is said to be 'stable' by the health experts, even as a significant downfall in daily cases are yet to be witnessed.
On Saturday, a total of 5,347 new cases were detected across the state while conducting 64,701 tests. Though the figure is relatively higher, if compared to 4,078 cases detected the previous day (Friday), the positivity rate has come down to 8.26 percent. On Friday, the positivity rate was 9.26 percent, after carrying out 44,057 tests.
The sigh of relief has been a decline in the number of daily cases in Kamrup (Metropolitan) where 1,012 new cases were detected on Saturday. This was the lowest number of daily cases in and around Guwahati in over a fortnight. Kamrup (Metropolitan) was followed by Kamrup (424 cases), Nagaon (343) and Sonitpur (291) in terms of district wise new cases registered on Saturday. The number of Covid-related deaths in the state also shrunk to 63 on Saturday, after more than 70 death cases were registered daily since Monday. The latest recovery rate stood at 85.39 percent.
"By and large, the number of Covid cases are stable in Assam. There has not been a major spike in the new cases in the state, and the number of deaths has also come down. It's a positive sign," executive director at Assam NHM, Dr Manoj Choudhury told TOI.
Despite a ray of hope, showing signs of improvement in a few parameters, the health department has not been able to cross 1 lakh tests, as desired by chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, to isolate more positive cases and resist the spread of the virus.
Health minister Keshab Mahanta said that unless the spreading infection is prevented, all other preventive measures may turn futile. He admitted that the number of tests has gone down in the last couple of days, as many health staff went on leave on account of Eid.
"There have been some problems for which we could not intensify Covid tests. But from May 17, our target is to touch 1 lakh Covid tests everyday," Mahanta added, further informing that in Guwahati, 20,000 daily test target have been set.
He said that the state health department will get 100 numbers of 108 ambulances by Monday, which will boost the operations to promptly shift the new cases to hospitals. Speaking on vaccines, Mahanta said that nearly 4 lakh vaccines are available in the state, but priority has been given to inoculate the beneficiaries with the second dose.
For the next few days, authorities are keeping a close watch in Kamrup (Metropolitan), which has been the decider of the overall Covid cases in the state. About 20-25 percent of the daily cases in Assam have been reported from the urban district alone.
"In the last two weeks, there have been a plateau of positive cases. The number of daily cases were hovering between 1,400-1,500 cases in our district. Slight decline, nearing 1,000 cases today is a positive sign," said Kamrup (Metropolitan) deputy commissioner Biswajit Pegu.
"Containment zones announced in three municipal wards, partial lockdown and support of the people contributed to contain the number of cases to some extent," he added.