Guwahati needs a special campaign

It is a matter of concern that Guwahati's Covid-19 situation is fast deteriorating. On Wednesday for instance, the number of persons testing positive was 100-plus. Banks, malls, godowns, apartments, private hospitals, shops – people are testing positive all over. The State Health department has indicated that there was every possibility of Guwahati coming under the grip of the first stage of community transmission. While 11 municipal wards have been placed under lockdown, fresh positive cases reported from other areas have apparently prompted speculations that the entire city will be under lockdown if the situation deteriorates further. While the Assam Government must be commended for the tremendous effort put in to control the situation one must admit that a section of citizens are to be held responsible for the deterioration. It is a fact that daily-wagers, vegetable vendors, shopkeepers, hawkers, rickshaw-pullers, office-goers, and people of most other professions will have to go out to work. The concept of "work from home" is simply meaningless for them. Deployment of police can only keep people from coming out to the main thoroughfares; it is practically impossible to keep an eye on every nook and corner of a haphazard city like Guwahati. One must however also understand the fact that Guwahati, like any other big city, has a diverse demography comprising illiterate and semi-literate people too. Generating equal levels of awareness especially on issues relating to health and hygiene among these segments is not easy. Advertisements issued through newspapers, or even through television may not have the desired impact; not all people watch television, and even if they do, most would be watching films and other entertainment channels and not news channels. Those belonging to the lowest strata of the society do not read newspapers; many educated people have stopped subscribing to newspapers for the unfounded fear of Covid-19 transmission. Advertisements issued through the mobile phone also require serious review. Most of the messages are too long, too chaste in language, and are read out very fast; those are mostly unintelligible even for the average educated person, apart from being dull. Given this reality, there is an urgent need for drawing up a fresh communication strategy to tackle the fast deteriorating Covid-19 situation in Guwahati. The downslide has to be arrested with a redrawn multi-pronged approach.