Plan to lift curfew from five Assam districts hit hardest by Covid-19

JORHAT: With the improvement in the Covid situation, the government is planning to withdraw curfew from the five total containment districts of Jorhat, Golaghat, Sonitpur, Lakhimpur and Biswanath from Monday.
District administration officials said they are observing signs of improvement in the past few days and if it continues to improve, curbs could be relaxed soon. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the government will try to lift curfew from the five districts soon. “We have relaxed Covid norms in the state and are now trying to lift curfew from the five districts from Monday,” Sarma said.
Jorhat, Golaghat, Sonitpur, Lakhimpur and Biswanath were declared total containment zones for seven days from July 20 for the second consecutive time.
Earlier, the government had declared these five districts, along with two others — Goalpara and Morigaon — as total containment zones on July 7. The government also imposed 24-hour curfew in these districts and the administration of the respective districts issued separate SOPs to stem the spread of Covid-19.
Jorhat deputy commissioner Ashok Kumar Barman said from July 20 to 23, the number of positive cases in the districts are 118, 117,112 and 94 respectively. In the past four days, eight persons expired due to Covid-19 in Jorhat.
“In the past 24 hours, the positivity rate in Jorhat has come down to 1.62 per cent. According to official estimats, the number of positive cases in Jorhat is in showing a declining trend and we are hopeful that the situation will improve soon,” Barman said.
Biswanath district did not report a single Covid death in the past four days. From July 20, the total number of Covid-positive cases reported in the district are 70, 45, 40, and 39 respectively. The positivity rate in the district was 1.15 per cent in the past 24 hours.
In Golaghat district, the number of Covid positive cases from July 20 was 165, 147, 177 and 128. Eight people died of the disease in Golaghat in the past four days. Except July 22, the number of positive cases in Golaghat is also showing a declining trend. Golaghat deputy commissioner Mrigesh Narayan Barua said, “In the past 24 hours the total positivity rate has gone down to 1.8 per cent. After a long time the positivity rate in Golaghat has come down to less than 2 per cent in a day.” Last week it had touched 5-6 per cent.
In Sonitpur district, four persons had died of Covid since July 20. A district administration official said, “In the past six days, the positivity rate in Sonitpur was less than 1 per cent and in the past 24 hours it was recorded as 0.84 per cent.”
In Lakhimpur district, two persons died of Covid-19 in the past four days. In the past 24 hours, the positivity rate in the district was 0.84 per cent.