Lockdown is the last option: State Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma

“In today’s context, lockdown is the last option to fight COVID-19,” said State Health and Family Welfare
Lockdown is the last option: State Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: "In today's context, lockdown is the last option to fight COVID-19," said State Health and Family Welfare Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. As of now, Kamrup (M) district has 552 confirmed corona positive cases.

Talking to the media here on Wednesday, Sarma said, "We'll take measures to check people violating lockdown. The situation was quite different when the nationwide lockdown was announced to break the corona chain. Our day-to-day activities are returning to normalcy with the beginning of the unlock 1.0. If we announce lockdown now, people will have to lose their sources of earnings. They'll be offended against the government.

"We're not thinking of lockdown unless the situation in Guwahati assumes the scenes as is being witnessed in Mumbai and Delhi now. With the spike in the number of corona positive cases in Guwahati, some sections say that there is community transmission of the virus in the metropolitan city. However, that's not the fact. According to the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research), to declare community transmission at a place it should have more than 2,000 positive cases.

"Under the targeted surveillance we've started from today – we're going to test 50,000 samples and review the outcome on June 30. The issue of fresh lockdown will be based only on the results of those 50,000 samples that are being collected from the vulnerable ones like the staffs of hotels that have been used as quarantine centres, ASTC bus drivers and handymen transporting people to the quarantines centres, people working in parking lots, godowns and nearby shops, petrol depots, dhabas, and police personnel engaged in COVID-19 duty among others."

On instant results of sample tests, Sarma said, "We've procured machines that can give us the results of tests very fast. There're testing machines that give results of five samples within an hour."

On a section of laboratory technicians testing corona positive, Sarma said, "It's quite natural when they have to take swab samples and conduct tests of so many people. Even in such a situation, the positive aspect is that the doctors and technicians have been working sincerely." 

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