‘Community spread has begun in Assam’

nGUWAHATI:ASSAM government on Sunday said that community spread of Covid-19 has begun in Guwahati and rest of Kamrup Metro district. The government added that the ongoing total lockdown to control the pandemic might get extended.

The development comes a day after 777 Covid-19 positive cases, the single biggest spike in a day, were reported from Kamrup Metro taking the district’s tally for 10 days between June 24 and July 4 to 2,741 cases. The state has reported 11,001 cases so far.

“In the last 10 days we have recorded 2741 positive cases in Guwahati and rest of Kamrup Metro. Almost all of these cases are from community transmission,” state health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Sunday.

“We have formally entered pandemic since June 24 and can no longer blame Karnataka, Mumbai, Tamil Nadu or Delhi (from where returnees came back during May and June) for COVID-19 spread in our state,” he said.

Assam government had imposed a 14-day total lockdown in Kamrup Metro from June 28 allowing only pharmacies to operate. However, with the number of cases not coming down, Sarma has indicated that the lockdown might get extended after the 14-day period on July 12.

“We might have to extend it by another week. There will be a need to find balance between allowing economic activity and risking lives of people,” he said.

The minister also informed that a plasma bank has become operational in Guwahati Medical College Hospital and a doctor who recovered from Covid-19 was the first donor. The health department has also started administering Remdesivir, an anti-viral drug, to Covid-19 patients with serious complications.