28 guests from Biswanath wedding test coronavirus positive, hundreds attended

Guwahati: Tension prevails in Biswanath of Assam after a grand wedding in the district that was held on August 5 last has become a matter of great concern for the locals residing in the area.

A wedding that was reportedly attended by at least 500 people has become a breeding ground of the dreaded coronavirus after 28 attendees of the wedding that was held amid pomp and show in Uttar Maral village, tested positive.

The alarm bells were initially rung when 11 wedding attendees tested positive for the virus. Taking note of this development, the district administration initiated contact tracing and soon after, 100 more villagers were tested and 17 more positive cases were detected among those.

Locals claim that this unfortunate turn of events has come to pass due to the "lack of awareness" among the villagers.

"No other villages in Assam have faced such a situation. Every household in the village should be tested. So far, around 200 tests have been done. The government should conduct 400 more tests," a report quoted an Uttar Maral villager as saying.

A gross violation of the Government's prescribed rules and regulations were witnessed at the wedding in question and at least 500 people are said to have gathered for the function. The Government, it needs to be mentioned, only permits 50 people to gather for weddings and 25 for funerals, as part of its measures to arrest the spread of the deadly pathogen that has already killed 155 people across the state.

Meanwhile, the number of recovered COVID-19 patients in Assam has reached 45,073 with the discharge of 1487 more patients from different hospitals and COVID-19 care centres across the state on Tuesday, August 11. While Assam has reported a total of 64,406 cases; the active case count in the state now stands at 19,175.

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