Rural Assam vulnerable to Covid-19 during second wavve

GUWAHATI: Covid-19, which was regarded as an urban disease until sometime ago, has begun to penetrate rural zones of Assam, making the remotest areas vulnerable to the infection in the second wave.
Hariprasad Pegu, a villager from Barpamua village, about 25 km from the headquarters of island district Majuli in upper Assam, has just recovered from the infection. At the same time, there are numerous villages in the Sattra (Vaishnavite monastery) land Majuli where not even a single Covid positive person has been found. But Pegu could not escape the aggressive virus, as his profession as contractor of PWD and state water resources department, compelled him to visit nearby Jorhat and Guwahati on office work. "While being screened at the Kamalabari river ghat in Majuli, after returning from Guwahati last week, I tested positive," he said.
The virus has already intruded deep into Majuli, which is evident from the rural folks hospitalized in the Garmur civil hospital and Jengraimukh model hospital in the world's biggest river island.
Nevertheless, Majuli has been able to check the number of cases remarkably, to be at the bottom of the district chart with 102 cases in the last 10 days, if the number of positive cases in all districts of the state are taken into account.
While community rituals, the marriage season in April-May and the rush in markets have been blamed by health officials for spreading the virus in rural areas this time, leading citizens of Majuli feel self-dependence on food has been a blessing for them
"In this globalized world, Majuli is not isolated. We have seen the return of people from Delhi and other metros but the crowd is not to be seen here like in many other rural districts. The Sattra people grow their own food and follow cleanliness as a part of the rituals. So there is no crowd in most markets," said Jadab Borah, a monk (Bhakat) at the Uttar Kamalabari Sattra.
In the neo-Vaishnavite culture propagated by Srimanta Sankardeva, agrarian economy on a self-sufficient model was the motto and Borah feels the difference can be seen in times of Covid after five centuries. "Pulses, salt and only a few more items are procured from the markets. Green vegetables, rice are available in almost all households. We are less dependent on markets," he added.
Even after the 'success story' in Majuli, health experts believe that more testing will bring out more positive cases in most of the rural districts where rush to markets, banks and other public places still goes on unabated. Out of the 13,451 Covid cases detected across Assam in the last 10 days (May 7 to May 16), around 30 percent are from Kamrup (Metropolitan) district that covers the Guwahati city areas. But the rest of the 70 percent cases are from the remaining districts where rural folks form the major chunk of the population.
After Majuli, the hill districts of West Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao have tested low number of positive cases at 145 and 217 respectively. Districts like Charaideo, Chirang and South Salmara, mostly comprising the rural pockets, have tested less than 300 cases in the last 10 days. This, senior health officials, said clearly signals at the safer situation in the districts which are far away from major transit hubs like Guwahati. But despite having a large rural population, they said, Kamrup (Rural) district tested the second highest 3,957 cases between May 7-16, mainly due to confluence of people in the sub-urban towns that maintain close links with the city. Even in Guwahati, the central parts of the city, which witness major activities in trade and commerce, remain more vulnerable.
"In villages, we suspect that many people are hiding the symptoms, though towns and cities definitely have more cases. The close social ties among families, rituals and marriages make lives vulnerable in rural areas. But in the cities and towns, markets are a major threat," said executive director of Assam NHM, Dr Manoj Choudhury.