Ambubachi Mela 2022: Covid positivity in Assam exceeds national rate

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Even though the Covid positivity rate of Assam has started exceeding the national rate, the desired alertness is found to be missing both among the public as well as the health department and authorities concerned.

A prime example of this looming Covid threat is provided by the ongoing Ambubachi Mela at the Kamakhya temple. A pilgrim from outside the State got himself tested and tested positive for Covid yesterday, but thousands of other devotees continue to mingle freely. It needs to be noted that there is no provision for mandatory Covid testing at the temple premises despite the rising positivity rate in the State.

The national-level Covid positivity rate yesterday was 4.32 per cent, but it was 5.20 per cent in Assam. In fact, the Covid positivity rate inched up to 5.65 per cent today, with 43 new cases. It is further noteworthy that of the overall cases detected in the State over the last few days, 80 per cent has been detected in Guwahati alone. A total of 34 new cases were detected in the state yesterday, out of which 26 cases were detected in Guwahati.

The apathetic attitude to a fresh round of Covid infections is also noticeable in various shopping malls and departmental stores of the city, because most of them have done away with the earlier practice of keeping sanitizer dispensers outside the entry points.

Similarly, most people do not wear masks inside public transport vehicles and public places.

Official sources said that the Government will shortly re-open Covid testing centres at several places in Guwahati. The sources added that the over-confident attitude of people is mainly due to the fact that most of them are double vaccinated and they are assuming that they won't get infected now. However, even double-vaccinated persons may get infected by Covid, the sources warned.

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