Assam Government declared stringent restrictions in some districts, areas from Monday

Shops and other business establishments in Kamrup(M) to remain open till 3 pm and a curfew from 4 pm

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The State Government has declared Biswanath, Morigaon and Goalpara districts, besides the Bokakhat subdivision as total containment areas from Monday. Only essential services, besides grocery and vegetable shops, will remain open there up to 5 pm.

Making this public on Friday, State Health Minister Keshab Mahanta said, "Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had a meeting with the deputy commissioners and the superintendents of police of the State to take stock of the COVID-19 situation. The Chief Minister took all these decisions during the meeting.

"In Guwahati, all shops and business establishments will remain open till 3 pm, and a curfew from 4 pm."

Mahanta further said, "The Chief Minister had to take such a decision as the COVID-19 positive cases are on the rise in these three districts and the subdivision. The Health Department has identified 247 hotspot areas and declared them as micro containment zones from Monday. These areas reported 10-50 COVID-19 positive cases in the past seven days. He also instructed the deputy commissioners to keep a close watch on 4,581 other areas where the positive cases in the past seven ways were below ten. We're going to intensify the vaccination drive in all these areas."

The Health Minister said, "We have been sending 300 samples of COVID-19 positive cases to the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG) located at Kolkata every month since April this year. The NIBGM informed us that 77 per cent of the positive cases were delta variant. However, only one person died of the delta variant in the State so far. The Health Department has direct contact with the patients who have delta variant. We treat them accordingly. The department is keeping a close watch on the delta variant."

On the COVID-19 vaccination drive in the State, the Health Minister said, "From this Saturday our daily target is to inoculate 1.50 lakh people. We had to reduce our target following the less supply of vaccines from the Centre. In the past three days – June 21, 22 and 23 – we inoculated 9.84 lakh people. From July 1, we're going to intensify the vaccination drive."

On frontline workers who have not yet taken vaccines, the Minister appealed to them to take vaccines immediately or face salary held-up.

The Minister also said that the Government employees who have taken one dose of vaccines are allowed to attend offices. He also made it clear that those to have taken both doses of vaccines would not face any COVID-19 tests in airports and railway stations.

Also Read: Parts of Nagaon District in Assam Likely to Go Under Lockdown

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