Chief Minister to review Covid-19 situation today
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: The health officials detected two Omicron cases in Assam – one in Sonapur in the Kamrup (M) district and the other in Hojai. Md Mamood Hussain of Hojai returned from Saudi Arabia. The case in Sonapur is of 13-year-old boy Rohan Das.
The State government apprehends that the daily Covid-19 positive cases may go up to ten thousand in the third wave. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma will review all aspects of the pandemic with all stakeholders tomorrow, taking the would-be situation into account.
The Chief Minister said, "The third wave is going on in the state. The highest number of daily Covid positive cases was around 6,000 in the second wave last year. The figure may touch 10,000 during the peak days this time."
Ruling out total lockdown, the Chief Minister said, "We didn't opt for total lockdown last year. We will keep that up this time also. We will finalize the modus operandi to tackle the third wave of the pandemic at tomorrow's meeting."
Health Minister Keshab Mahanta said, "The department has sent the samples of those who came in contact with the two Omicron patients to Kalyani Laboratory in Kolkata that does Omicron tests. From December 1 to January 4, the department tested the samples of 3,158 foreign travellers. Fifty-two of them tested Covid-19 positive. Since the third wave is underway, we have readied hospitals with 4,991 isolation beds, 2,613 oxygen-supported beds and around 1,000 ICU beds. Five per cent of the beds have patients in them. We have no problem of beds now."
Health department officials said that the current lockdown from 11.30 pm-6 am need to be from 5 pm-5 am.
The medical fraternity detected 475 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday. That led the Covid positive percentage to leapfrog from 0.38 per cent on December 30, 2021, to 1.29 per cent on January 4, 2022. The authorities declared IIT-Guwahati a containment zone as 60 faculty members and students tested Covid positive. So far, the cumulative figure of Covid positive cases in the state in all the waves is 6.21 lakh.
Sources said that the upsurge in Covid positive cases was high in Guwahati. However, the people of Guwahati are not that alert.
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