GUWAHATI: Assam government has invoked Epidemic Act 1897 to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Assam health minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “We have invoked Epidemic Act, health authorities are taking control of the situation and orders of health department are binding. There will no exam of any kind till March 31.”
But the question here is how prepared is Assam on ground?
Last week the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) approved accredited private labs in the country to offer testing for Covid-19 but in Assam with only 4 testing centres in Assam- Gauhati Medical College, Guwahati, Regional Medical Research Center, Dibrugarh, Jorhat Medical College & Hospital (JMCH) and Silchar Medical College and no private lab in Assam been so far authorised to conduct the COVID-19 test the citizens of Assam are in a tough situation.
Although cases till now have been proved negative, if a person wants to test himself for the virus it will take longer time and patience.
Meanwhile, Private Molecular Diagnostic companies who provide kits or reagents to test people for Covid-19 to government and private labs have said it will take them at least a week as their reagents are still in validation stage. This means private labs who received permission from the government for Covid-19 testing cannot start testing till the reagents get approved for sale.
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Sunday appealed to the people of the state to remain indoors for the next two weeks and move out only if it extremely necessary.
Dr Mike Ryan of WHO said, "What we really need to focus on is finding those who are sick, those who have the virus, and isolate them, find their contacts and isolate them," in an interview on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.
"The danger right now with the lockdowns ... if we don't put in place the strong public health measures now, when those movement restrictions and lockdowns are lifted, the danger is the disease will jump back up."
In India till now the coronavirus (Covid-19) positive cases surged on Sunday to 396 -- the highest increase of 81 over 24 hours so far.