Assam Chief Secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna terms Guwahati lockdown as a "definite success"

Guwahati: Assam Chief Secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna, while announcing the rules and regulations of the Unlock 1.0 in Kamrup (M) district on Saturday, termed the 3-week lockdown as a "definite success."

"We believe that social transmission has been greatly reduced by the lockdown. Today, the number of cases is 21,000. If there had not been a lockdown, the COVID-19 cases could have crossed 30,000. Lockdown is not only happening in Guwahati; you can also see a lockdown in Melbourne and also in Bihar", the Assam Chief Secretary said, while responding to a query during a presser held in Guwahati.

Mr. Sanjay Krishna opined that although the COVID-19 graph continues to rise Guwahati, the ramped-up testings have also been taken into account. "If we can conduct 3-4 lakh more tests in the upcoming days across Assam, and if we can also raise the percentage of tests in Guwahati, we will be able to check the outbreak", the Assam Chief Secretary added.

The curbs in Guwahati were brought into effect on June 28 to arrest the spread of the COVID-19 virus that has infected over 20,000 people across the state. The Government took the drastic decision to impose the lockdown after reports of the spread of the virus at the community level in persons without travel history.

Stressing on the need to bring a "balance between the lives and livelihoods" in the days to come, Kumar Sanjay Krishna said, "till a vaccine is invented, we have to coexist by following the norms and guidelines."

Opining on the financial duress of the lockdown, Sanjay Krishna said that although the Government's treasury has been hit hard by the lockdowns, the situation is not yet dire. "We are still in a situation to manage the situation, and the Assam Government has been receiving the requisite grants from the Centre", the Assam Chief Secretary added.

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