As Assam's Covid cases surge, central team studying situation

Guwahati, June 7 (IANS) A three-member central team, on a week-long visit to Assam, is studying the state's Covid-19 management and has held a series of discussions with senior state officials, a top official said on Sunday.

With 92 fresh cases on Sunday, Assam's coronavirus tally climbed to 2,565 with 1,943 of them active cases.

Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Samir Kumar Sinha said that the three-member team from the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry, is now studying disease management in Assam.

"The central team has been in the state since Thursday and held a series of discussions with senior officials including Chief Secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna over the Covid-19 situation in the state. After visiting the state, the central team would submit a report," Sinha told IANS over phone.

Another senior Health Department official said that the central team, during the past four days, had visited various medical colleges and hospitals, Covid-19 care centres and quarantine facilities in and around Guwahati and various other districts.

The central team comprises Ajay Tiwari, Joint Secretary, Labour and Employment and two senior public health specialists -- N.N. Naskar and Snigdha Basu from All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health.

Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that around 2.50 lakh people returned to Assam so far from 14 states across south and north India, leading to the heavy rise in coronavirus patients in the state

According to officials, five of the state's 33 districts -- Kamrup Metro (413), Dhubri (259), Golaghat (209), Hojai (198) and Kamrup Rural (120) -- account for 1,199 of the total coronavirus patients. While Assam's main city and commercial hub Guwahati falls in Kamrup Metro, Golaghat is a major tea growing area and a part of the famous Kaziranga National Park falls in the district, Dhubri shares borders with Bangladesh and West Bengal, Hojai district is famous for agarwood processing and agar-product export and the Brahmaputra makes its way through the Kamrup Rural district.