So far now, 1,000 valuable lives have been claimed in Assam by Covid-19 in a span of nine months. With this, Assam is now one among 20 states where the death toll has crossed the four-figure mark. While Maharashtra continues to top the list of worst-affected states with 48,059 deaths till Saturday, Lakshwadeep is the only State/UT which has not recorded any death so far. Dadra, Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu on the other hand has recorded two deaths so far, and Mizoram seven.
The first covid death in the assam state was a 65-year old male person, a resident of Hailakandi district, who had passed away on April 10. He was one of the first 27 persons who had tested positive in Assam, and was among those who had attended a religious event at Nizamuddin in New Delhi in the early part of March. He had also visited Saudi Arabia a few days before attending the Nizamuddin event. The covid-19 patient whose death took the toll in the state up to 1,000 has been identified as Wazida Bibi (52) on Friday, the total number of Covid-19 deaths touched 1000 in Assam. It is important to note that the Assam Covid-19 situation has been much better than most states of the country, and the state health department must be congratulated for this. The present death rate due to Covid-19 in Assam stands at 0.46 %, which is one of the lowest in the country. The recovery rate in Assam has also remained impressive, at 97.8%.
The bad news is that the spread of the novel coronavirus in India has quickened in the last few days with new cases of Covid-19 & deaths reported every day. The epidemic has expanded its footprint in the country and has affected over 97 lakh people since the first positive case was confirmed on January 30 in Kerala. But the fact remains that the overall situation in Assam could have been even better, had a section of the people displayed responsible behaviour by way of strictly adhering to the simple protocol involving a few easy measures like wearing masks, washing hands and maintaining social distance in public places.
It is very unfortunate that the large majority of law-abiding citizens of Assam have to suffer just because a small section of people refused to abide by the basic norms of preventing spread of the covid-19 coronavirus. A section of political leaders will also have to take the blame as they thought politicians were out of reach of Covid-19. This is notwithstanding the fact that at least one Union minister had to embrace death due to Covid-19. That this section of people have continued with their irresponsible behaviour is evident from the fact that 127 new infections were reported in the state on Friday, taking the total number of persons testing positive so far to 2,14,432.
What's Problem
That a sizeable section of irresponsible people live in Guwahati has also become evident from the fact that of these more than two lakh positive cases, as many as 53,137 have been reported from the state capital alone. One does not require any specific technology to identify irresponsible people, especially in Guwahati. A drive through the city will make visible hundreds of persons, both male and female, moving around without masks, while one section has also developed a fashion of wearing the mask below their chin. Likewise, it is not uncommon a sight in Guwahati to find a person – whether male or female – spitting on roads, while walking, shopping, while travelling in public transport, while riding motorcycles and going around in expensive cars.
Conclusion
Responsible people do not have any class; they may be poor, they may be rich, they may be illiterate, they may be literate. But noticing intently for just five minutes standing at a busy city junction – like Ganeshguri Chariali, Jalukbari flyover or Adabari bus-stand – one can easily say that majority of them at least look educated and well-to-do.