Gauhati High Court advocate tests COVID-19 positive, triggers panic among lawyers

Guwahati: Panic has gripped the Gauhati High Court after a prominent advocate tested COVID-19 positive on Monday, June 29.

"The Court had been re-opened and activity was on in full flow before the summer vacation kicked in on June 27. He had been visiting the Court, so there is a sense of panic among the lawyer fraternity. It has now been reported that it is the first case of COVID in the institution" Upasana Sharma, a fellow Gauhati High Court advocate told The Sentinel Digital.

"I think people are afraid because there is a rampant spread of the virus across the city. It is unclear whether he has a travel history, but as far as I know, he has been in Guwahati" she further added.

This development has come to the fore at a time when there is a rampant spread of the COVID-19 in Guwahati, the biggest city in the state. At the same time, the Government, taking cognizance of the matter, has called for a total lockdown across the city to arrest the spread of the viral disease. Yesterday, the city registered 172 COVID-19 positive cases, leading to a sense of disorder, chaos, and panic among citizens.

Most worryingly, the city seems to be on the verge of running out of hospital beds to accommodate the sick patients, as declared by Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. "People have to realize that there are 890 hospital beds if we do not turn the GMCH into a COVID exclusive facility. In 4 days, the hospital beds will be full. I do not have issues if the beds are filled in 10 days, because then we will be able to rotate, however, that is not the case in Guwahati", Sarma stated while addressing media persons recently. As a consequence, the Assam Government has been compelled to clamped one more lockdown in Guwahati -- one in which not even grocery shops will be kept open.

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