The first case of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Indian state of Assam was reported on 31 March 2020. As of , the Government of Assam has confirmed a total of positive cases of COVID-19 including recoveries, three migrations and deaths in the state. The state's as well as northeast's largest city, Guwahati, has been worst affected by coronavirus.
The COVID-19 outbreak in Assam has been traced to persons who attended the conference of the Tablighi Jamaat religious organisation at Nizamuddin Markaz (Delhi) and did not report to the authorities after their return to Assam. Out of the total patients of COVID-19 in Assam – 37 are either attendees or contacts of Tablighi Jamaat. The COVID-19 tally in Assam also shoots up due to some pilgrims of Ajmer Sharif Dargah (Rajasthan), who arrived in the Silchar city of Cachar district by bus on 6 May. Later on, 10 pilgrims tested positive for coronavirus and the others were sent to quarantine as per guidelines. The state witness spike in number of COVID-19 cases as migrant workers and many people of Assam stranded in other parts of the country returned to Assam. Many of them tested positive for coronavirus when they were in quarantine in the respective quarantine centres of the state.
In the fight against coronavirus, many frontline warriors of COVID-19 have also tested positive in Assam. Though many of them have later recovered, a very few have died. So far, the Assam Police has registered 3,005 COVID-19 cases among its personnel. Of them, 2,274 have recovered, 723 are undergoing treatment, while eight have died to the virus.
Government Response
Assam's fight against the novel coronavirus has been largely spearheaded by the state's Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Health services and Quarantine strategy The Government of Assam makes compulsory quarantine of 14 days for people coming from outside the state or country. Quarantine centre with 700 beds were set up at the Sarusojai Sports Complex and an apartment had been rented nearby by the government where at least 200 doctors can stay. Isolation wards of 200 beds in Sonapur Hospital, ICU ward of 30 beds in GMCH, 150 beds at MMCH and 50 beds in JMCH were set up by the government of Assam. A fully-functional, air-conditioned 236-bedded COVID-19 unit at GMCH, including 50 ICUs and 186 wards was also set up by the government. The government also upgraded Jalukbari Ayurvedic College (Guwahati) into a full-fledged COVID-19 hospital of 110-bed, Patanjali Yogpeeth (Mirza) into a full-fledged COVID-19 hospital of 250-bed and many more like those. Quarantine wards of 1500 beds were also set up for Assam Police Personnel. 30 doctors and around 200 nurses have also been kept exclusively for the police personnel. Nearly 10 lakh people have been screened across Assam, of which 72,957 passengers have been screened at six airports in the state.
On 15 April, the government imported 50,000 PPE kits from China and became the first and only state who has independently imported the kits from China.
In order to show gratitude towards the frontline warriors of COVID-19, the state government provided 14-days quarantine to all the doctors and nurses working round the clock attending COVID-19 positive patients at Taj Vivanta 5-star hotel. On 29 June, the government also recruited 3000 nurses in GMCH on regular basis in order to strengthen the nursing workforce in the fight against the rising no. of COVID-19 cases in Guwahati.
Containment strategy On 15 March, the government of Assam shut down all educational institutions, cinema halls, multiplexes, gyms and swimming pools.
Quarantine The following table shows the no. of persons who had completed their respective quarantine periods Quarantine period No. of peoples 28 days 143,705 14 days 151,398 Total 295,103As of 12 June 2020
After the second wave of cases started with the entry of large no. of peoples in Assam from different parts of the country and abroad, home and institutional quarantine system started in the state. The given chart shows the status of quarantine persons
Screening The following table shows the no. of persons screened at different places in Assam PlacesNo. of peoplesAirport (6)72,957Land Port (3)61,673Railway Station207,156Zonal Screening Point(5)93,065random608,480Total10,43,331As of 12 June 2020
Public awareness The Government of Assam has started a YouTube channel for spreading awareness among public regarding the precautions to be taken against COVID-19. Also, the government has launched a mobile application called COVAAS for users to get information and updates regarding the COVID-19 in Assam. The app also incorporates application of lockdown epass, live help desk and many more. The government with the help of National Informatics Centre (NIC) of Assam, has launched an app called COVID Suraksha to monitor the status of each home quarantined persons.
Educational measures The Assam government has directed the schools to provide students with course materials and short video lectures on topics in the syllabi through WhatsApp to prevent learning gaps during the closure of educational institutes. Even all the students of Higher Secondary first year of 2019–20 academic year have been promoted to second year without conducting any examination. The Assam government also directed private schools to waive 50 per cent of fees for the month of April. The schools have also been directed not to increase fees during lockdown and to pay teaching and non-teaching staff without a pay cut. The government also launched a local educational television channel Gyan Brikshya for classes I to XII, to cover the learning loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. The government is also going to waive all fees relating to admission and other categories like examinations, sports, registration, laboratory etc. for all students in all educational institutions under the Assam education board.
On 29 June, the government has decided to change the academic calendar for the schools of the state from January–December to April–March. The decision has been taken in order to compensate the loss of academic days due to COVID-19 lockdown.
Schemes and programmes launched On 27 April, Chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal announced a life insurance cover of Rs 50 lakh to journalists. The state government also ensured to provide free COVID-19 testing for reporters. The government is also going to give Rs. 2000/month for three months to those people of Assam who are not returning to the state during lockdown. The government also gave $2000 in two installments to Assamese people stranded abroad. The government also gave Rs. 25000 to each cancer, kidney & heart patients in first installment and also gave another Rs. 25000 in second installment to the same patients stranded outside the state during the COVID-19 lockdown. To support the folk artistes/Lok Silpis of Assam in these challenging times, the government has decided to provide Rs. 2000 per month to each folk artistes for 3 months.
The CM also ordered to issue job cards to all the migrant workers returning to the state from different parts of the country. Along with jobs, the government is also going to give free food grains for 3 months to migrant workers returning to the state. Further, the state government increases the daily wage from Rs. 182 to Rs. 202 of the workers under MGNREGA in order to provide relief to the migrant labourers who are returning to their home state. The Assam government further decided to provide 5 kg rice per month to all those poor families who do not have a ration card.
The government has also launched a scheme called Dhanwantari to make home delivery of locally unavailable medicines amid lockdown restrictions but later limited to quarantined people only due to relaxations in Lockdown rules. The government has also allocated Rs. 20,000 towards the expenditure in quarantining each person arriving from outside the state.
Lockdown 3.0 During Lockdown 3.0, the Assam government has barred people above 65 years and children below 12 years from venturing out of their homes except for medical reasons. Female employees, both in private and public sectors, with children below 5 years of age, are also barred by the government not to attend office. Also the Government strictly imposed curfew across all zones in the state from 6 pm to 6 am and all movement have been restricted during this period except emergency services like medical services, fire services and many more.
Community surveillance programme The government of Assam also deployed 1,000 medical teams including doctors, nurses, medical staffs and health workers to around 25000 villages across the state to check people with seasonal fever and other COVID-19 like symptoms. The government also deployed Asha workers and MPW to monitor the home quarantine patients. In an effort to map and understand the spreading of the novel Coronavirus in Assam a non-governmental organization, has launched the first-ever serological survey in the state.
COVID-19 counseling/screening centers In order to flatten the increasing curve of COVID-19 in Guwahati city, counseling centers have been set up in each of the wards in the city. Altogether 33 such centers have been activated including the ones in GMCH and MMCH. The centers will provide voluntary testing to the peoples and instant test results. All these centres will function from schools and will have ambulances, doctors, nurses and paramedics along with lab technicians. On July 27, the government set up 60 more COVID-19 screening centres in Guwahati, taking the total strength to 103.
Lockdown extensions In view of the rising number of COVID-19 cases in many parts of Guwahati, the government imposed 14-days lockdown in 11 wards of Guwahati from 9 pm on June 23 onwards. The wards covers areas like Kamakhya, Maligaon, Fatasil, Panbazar and Fancy Bazaar. The order strictly prohibited the movement of individuals in those wards along with suspension of all activities in the areas excluding medical and fire services. The government though allowed opening of grocery shops, petrol pumps, medicine shops etc. from 10 am to 5 pm on the respective days. The government strictly warned people to follow lockdown norms, otherwise legal action under Section 188 will be taken against those violators.
On 26 June, the government announced a complete lockdown in Guwahati from June 28 midnight until July 12 due to the rapid increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in the city. On July 11, the government announced further extension of lockdown by a week until July 19 in Guwahati.
Weekend lockdown The government also enforced weekend lockdown from June 27 in all town committees and municipalities across Assam until further orders. The lockdown will be enforced on all Saturdays and Sundays every week.
Besides lockdown, the government also imposed night curfew across the state from 7 pm to 7 am.
Evacuation The Government evacuated 391 students of Assam, who were stranded at Kota, Rajasthan. All the students have been kept under quarantine for 14 days. The govt with the help of government of Gujarat, also brought 104 students of Assam stranded in different parts of Gujarat.
Legal actions The government strictly warned people not to violate quarantine rules otherwise a criminal case of non-bailable offence will be filed against those violators. The government of Assam makes it mandatory to wear mask in public and strongly warned people to follow the order otherwise a fine of Rs 500 ($6.60 ) will be charged from the violators.
As of 29 June, 3,444 cases have been registered, 4,609 persons have been arrested, 30,256 vehicles have been seized and more than Rs 4.35 crore have been collected as fines in the state for defying lockdown rules.
Repatriation of expats