A cautious approach

Relaxation in Standard Operating Procedure for COVID-19 in Assam has come with a caveat that stricter restriction may be required to be enforced in five districts with high positivity rates. The impact of relaxation in curfew hours will primarily be seen only within the district boundaries as inter-district movement will continue to be suspended till June 22. Despite a significant fall in the state average, the positivity rate is fluctuating which has made the Health and Family Department adopt a cautious approach in unlocking. Strict enforcement of COVID appropriate behaviour during curfew relaxation will be necessary to prevent a fresh rise in infection. Kamrup (Metropolitan), Cachar, Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sonitpur and Nagaon districts recorded over 2,000 positive cases over 10 days from June 5 till June 14 even when the partial lockdown was in force, which explains the cautious approach of the department. In Guwahati, some people are seen venturing out during curfew hours, which, if not checked, may turn the capital city into a hotspot in no time. Intensified police patrolling in interior by-lanes of the city localities during curfew hours is needed to keep the people indoors to achieve the objective of restricting people's movement to break the transmission of the virus. Extension of partial lockdown with varying degree of restrictions for different districts is going to increase the anxiety of candidates of High School Leaving Certificate Examination and Higher Secondary Examination over the mode and schedule of their examinations. The Education Department will be expected to clarify the doubts of the students and their parents to relieve them from any kind of mental stress. High fatalities in the current wave have added to their apprehension over offline examination even though they are aware of the complications and demerits of evaluation without any written examination. The cumulative death toll in COVID-19 infection in the state has surpassed the 4000-mark. Of this around 1100 fatalities were recorded in the first wave over 12 months while in the past two and half months of the current second wave it is touching 3000-mark. If the death of Covid patients due to comorbidities is considered, fatalities in a pandemic are much higher and have affected several thousand families in the state. High fatalities in the second wave are attributed to the Delta variant of the COVID-19 mutant. The news of a new mutant of Delta variant in the country calls for increased surveillance during the unlocking process, more particularly on passengers arriving from outside the state. Ramping up testing under Community Surveillance Programme has helped the Health Department detecting and isolating COVID-19 infected patients to provide timely treatment and prevent spreading the infection to others. People volunteering to undergo rapid antigen tests can bring down the infection level substantially through early detection and containment which will facilitate the State government go for further relaxation post-June 22. A worrying development in the current wave is the detection of over 100 children among 900 people found infected by the virus during the community surveillance programme in 3,600 villages in the first ten days of the current month. This could be the tip of the iceberg as there are 26,395 villages in the state and call for special surveillance to ensure early detection of COVID-19 infection in children in the state. Health experts cautioned that children could be infected more if a third wave of the pandemic breaks out. The decision to keep the schools closed despite the relaxation in curfew hours is wise and timely. The State government has directed the school authorities to conduct online classes but how the children without internet access will get an education is not clear. The digital divide has pushed the underprivileged students to the brink, but no visible efforts could be seen to address the problem and they continue to be deprived of quality education every time the restrictions are extended. The focused attention of the Education Department to address the problem is warranted by uncertainty throughout the suspension of classes. Besides, the department also needs to be prepared for disruption in offline classes on account of a third wave in the state. Disruption in commercial activities on account of partial lockdown is slowing down the economy. Skyrocketing prices of essential commodities have made the lives of people miserable. Extension of disruption due to flood over the next couple of months is also looming large. The State government has attributed the slow decline in infection to its strategy of choosing partial lockdown to full lockdown so that minimum economic activities can be kept running. Disruption for a longer period will make many commercial activities unsustainable and this will have a cascading impact on the economy. This may bring the debate if the state should go for the complete lockdown to bring down infection at a faster rate to the fore if the current strategy fails to produce desired results.