The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday reviewed the poll preparedness for the General Elections to the Assam Legislative Assembly 2021.

The review meeting was chaired by the Chief Election Commissioner of India, Sh Sunil Arora, in the presence of Election Commissioners Sh Sushil Chandra and Sh Rajiv Kumar at Tezpur as also later at Guwahati. Commission met with Deputy Commissioners, Superintendents of Police and other senior officers of all districts going to polls in the first and second phase of elections, as also nodal officers of the Enforcement Agencies. Specific review of Covid arrangements was done with Chief Secretary Sh Jishnu Barua and also issues with DGP Assam Sh B Mohanta.

Sr Deputy Election Commissioner and Incharge of State of Assam at ECI, Sh Dharmendra Sharma, Deputy Election Commissioner Sh Sudeep Jain along with Special General Observer Sh S. Srinivasan, Special Police Observer Sh Ashok Kumar and Special Expenditure Observer Smt Neena Nigam interacted with State officers. CEO, Assam Sh Nitin Khade, State Police Nodal Officer Sh Deepak Kedia, State Force Coordinator, CAPF Ms Sonal V Mishra, Divisional Commissioners of Upper and North Assam and DIGs of North-Eastern, Northern, Eastern, Central and Central-Western ranges participated in today’s review meeting held at Tezpur.

Chief Election Commissioner Sh Sunil Arora directed all the officials to ensure that elections in the State of Assam are conducted in a peaceful, free and fair and safe manner with high voter turnout. Sh Arora reiterated that this time Special General and Police Observers have been associated with randomization of State and Central Armed Police Forces to jointly decide the election security plan.

Shri Sushil Chandra, Election Commissioner urged to expedite seizures and asked the departments to establish money trail linkages specifically related to election expenditure. He directed the investigative agencies for better co-ordination and collaboration of data, in order to improve their searches and seizure operations during the election period. Shri Rajiv Kumar, Election Commissioner asked all the agencies to continue with their vigil efforts even after the 3-phased election is over in the state of Assam, as the adjoining state, West Bengal will still be having elections. The border check posts need to be functioning strictly, till the election results, in order to deter any illegal goods transfer /crossings across the state borders, he emphasised.

Special General Observer S. Srinivasan apprised the Commission of the overall status of preparedness in the State, while Special Police Observer Sh Ashok Kumar gave an overview of security measures put in place to ensure smooth conduct of the elections. Special Expenditure Observer Neena Nigam apprised ECI of seizures worth Rs 80 crores made already (as against Rs 16 crores done in previous elections) due to concerted efforts of the Flying Squad Teams and SSTs working round the clock to ensure free and fair elections in the state.

Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday has said that in its bid to contain the spread of novel coronavirus in Guwahati, the state health department will now carry out house-to-house tests, beginning from Ward No. 2 in the Pandu locality.

In a recent tweet, Sharma said: “In a first of its kind initiative on mass testing in Assam, the Health Department will carry out house-to-house Covid tests in Ward No 2 (Pandu area) of Guwahati Municipality, beginning Tuesday (July 7). We target to complete 3,000 tests in the ward in two days.”

State health officials told the media that if required, the house-to-house testing may be carried in other localities as well.

Meanwhile Sarma on Monday visited the 450-bed COVID care centre being set up at Havells India factory compound at Changsari. “It shall be functional soon, and will add up to our infrastructure,” he said.

Of the total 735 new COVID-19 positive cases detected in the state on Sunday, of which 552 alone were from Guwahati.

Assam today revised relaxation norms for Kamrup (Metro) that came into effect today till the 14-day lockdown period expires, even as at least 2,741 COVID-19 positive cases have been detected in Guwahati in the last ten days.

Meanwhile there are speculations about the possibility of extending the total lockdown in the district by at least a week in the wake of spike in COVID-19 cases.

On Sunday in a fresh order issued by Chief Secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna, the State government has allowed all standalone grocery shops in Kamrup (Metro) district to operate between 11 am and 4 pm from Monday to Friday – a modification from the earlier notification that had allowed only 20 per cent of the grocery shops to operate for two days during the week.

The decision to open all the grocery shops has been taken to ensure that people do not go out of their respective areas and stick to the neighbourhood shops. “Shopkeepers and customers shall have to wear masks, hand gloves and maintain social distancing,” the order stated.

“The responsibility of maintenance of social distancing will be on the shop owner and failure to do so will be viewed very seriously and may entail closure of defaulting shops. Maintenance of price line and prevention of artificial shortage will be the responsibility of shopkeepers and Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs department,” the order added, enumerating the partial modification.

Further, house-to-house sale of fruits and vegetables shall be allowed between 8 am and 2 pm on Monday and Wednesday (July 6 and July 8). However, no roadside vending of any fruit, vegetable or fish, etc., will be allowed.

The wholesalers of grocery items were allowed to replenish stocks of retailers by today between 12 noon and 6 pm.

The Health Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma while addressing a press conference on Sunday said that the city (Guwahati) has entered into the ‘pandemic’ stage now. “By and large, all the positive cases were from the community. They do not have any travel history,” he said.

The COVID-19 situation in Guwahati, where 2,741 fresh cases were reported in the last 10 days, is alarming and may worsen if the restrictions imposed are not followed seriously by the people, Sarma said. Assam recorded its biggest single-day spike in COVID- 19 cases on Saturday, with 1,202 new infections, of which Guwahati accounted for 777 cases. The state has reported 11,001 cases so far.

“We have formally entered the pandemic stage in Guwahati with these 2,741 cases. Earlier, most of the patients were people with travel history, so the pandemic was in the states from where the returnees had come but now, it is here,” he said.

Guwahati will go under complete lockdown for 14 days from midnight today after several new cases were detected in the last couple of days and incidents of citizens not adhering to social distancing norms.

Earlier, Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announcing the lockdown said: “This will trouble people, it will harm the interests of the business establishments. However, the Government has to take tough decisions., These decisions are painful, but with great pain and sorrow, we have to take this decision. We did not think that we would have to shift from an unlock phase to lockdown, but we had no other option”, Sarma said.

Sarma said that lockdown will be clamped in the entire Kamrup (M) district till July 12. “This time, expect pharmacies, laboratories, and hospitals, nothing will be open. Movement of all individuals will be prohibited beyond a specific area”, Sarma said. The Minister said that shops, businesses, industries, private and public transport will also not be allowed. “Apart from the COVID duty and flood-relief related officials, no passes will be issued”, Sarma added.

Meanwhiile, an employee of the 108 Mrityunjoy ambulance service has tested positive for Covid-19 virus. The man is reportedly a member of the Emergency Response Office (ERO) in GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute’s head office in Guwahati’s Lokhra area.

6 SBI branches to remain open

Meanwhile, during the total lockdown from June 28 to July 12 in all the areas under Kamrup Metropolitan district, State Bank of India will open six branches in the District for its customers. The branches are – Guwahati, Dispur, Guwahati Medical College, Maligaon, Guwahati Airport and Assam Secretariat. Through a release, the SBI requested its customers to visit above branches in case of extreme need only. Along with the six branches, Commercial Branch, Swagato Square, ABC Point, Guwahati will also be open during the lockdown.

Operational Punjab National Bank (PNB) branches in Guwahati during lockdown

In addition, Punjab National Bank (PNB) will open its following branches for customer service during the lockdown period. On June 29 the branches of the bank that will remain open are of Chandmari, Zoo Road, Kamakhya (eUBI), Guwahati (e-UBI) and Zoo Road (eOBC). The branches to remain open on June 30 are of Mahavir Market, Zoo Road, Khanapara (eUBI), Guwahati (eUBI) and GS Road (e-OBC).

Owing to a sharp rise in the number of Covid-19 positive cases in Guwahati, Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that a complete lockdown will be clamped in the city from Sunday midnight.

“This will trouble people, it will harm the interests of the business establishments. However, the Government has to take tough decisions., These decisions are painful, but with great pain and sorrow, we have to take this decision. We did not think that we would have to shift from an unlock phase to lockdown, but we had no other option”, Sarma said.

Sarma said that lockdown will be clamped in the entire Kamrup (M) district till July 12. “This time, expect pharmacies, laboratories, and hospitals, nothing will be open. Movement of all individuals will be prohibited beyond a specific area”, Sarma said. The Minister said that shops, businesses, industries, private and public transport will also not be allowed. “Apart from the COVID duty and flood-relief related officials, no passes will be issued”, Sarma added.

The Minister said that this decision has been taken owing to the sharp spike in the number of COVID cases in the urban area. Also Read – Three rank holders in Higher Secondary (HS) exam from Bongaigaon “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 elaborated. The Minister also said that the business owners have failed in their social responsibility such as the maintenance of social distancing, and people are not strictly following the rules prescribed by the Government and chided the people for not following the rules.

https://www.sentinelassam.com/north-east-india-news/assam-news/guwahati-under-complete-lockdown-from-sunday-midnight-himanta-biswa-sarma-484989

A day after the Assam Government imposed a 14-day lockdown in 11 wards of the state’s largest city, Guwahati, Minister of State Pijush Hazarika recently said that the state government might clamp a total lockdown in the city if the Covid-19 cases continue to spike upwards.

The minister lamented that the condition of Guwahati has continued to worsen from day-to-day and expressed concern at the fact that cases have been detected in places such as government offices, shopping complexes, hospitals, etc.

Urging people in other parts of the state not to visit the city amid burgeoning cases, the minister said that a community spread has already been witnessed, as several persons without a travel history have tested positive. Hazarika said that the number of COVID cases is rising in the city because people “don’t follow rules.”

He further added that amid the dramatic spike in the number of cases in the city, cases have now been reported from the PWD Chief Engineer’s office, banks, malls, as well as other places of significance across the city.

Hazarika also admitted that Guwahati was indeed the worst-hit region in the state when it comes to Covid-19 outbreak. According to the government figures, Assam has reported 6,056 cases of the Covid-19, of which 2,282 cases are still active. Nine patients have died due to complications from the virus so far.

After a surge in novel coronavirus cases in the capital city of Assam, which is being blamed on the failure of the containment zone policy, the State government imposed a complete lockdown in 11 of the 31 wards in Guwahati from yesterday.

Announcing the decision, Kamrup (Metro) deputy commissioner Biswajit Pegu said at least 170 people in Guwahati, who have tested positive for COVID-19, do not have any travel history which was a matter of “serious concern”.

The lockdown order was issued by Chief Secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna and it will be in force for at least two weeks. It will cover Guwahati Municipal Corporation ward nummbers: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (partially), 15 and 16. All these wards are mainly located in the southwest side of the city and have majority of the COVID-19 positive cases.

“This time, the lockdown will be enforced in a very strict manner and by this evening me and police commissioner will finalise a strategy for that. Without a proper lockdown, it will be impossible to prevent community transmission in the city,” Pegu said.

According to the deputy commissioner, implementation of the containment zone policy has failed due to lack of mass awareness. “Inside most of the containment zones, people used to move around freely and come in contact with each other. So, all our efforts went in vain,” Pegu said.

He said public movement will be strictly prohibited in these areas and only emergency services along with food and health facilities will be allowed to operate. He requested everyone to go for home-delivery modes to avail essential commodities in their doorsteps to avoid coming out from home.

Violation of the lockdown norms will attract strict legal action under the Disaster Management Act, IPC and other legal provisions, he said. The lockdown has, however, exempted the employees of print and electronic media houses, including those who are involved with newspaper distribution.

“The district administration has identified the areas which will be covered by the lockdown notification after a detailed analysis of ground-level situation. In lockdown areas, we will try to test as many people as possible under the ongoing community surveillance programme,” he added.

Accurate testing is important to get out of the clutches of novel coronavirus. Stepping up efforts in this regard, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati, in association with RR Animal Healthcare Ltd and Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), has developed low-cost diagnostic kits. These are Viral Transport Media (VTM) kits, RT-PCR kits, and RNA isolation kits.

The VTM kits are the first-stop source used to collect nasal and oral swab specimens from an individual source to a laboratory safely for culture and testing. During this period, the virus, if present, in the sample specimens should remain intact until the testing procedure is completed. The kit consists of a comprehensive solution specially formulated for the collection and transport of SARS-CoV-2.

“To bring down the cost of kits, we have used material that are available in the local market and they are as per the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendation. We have handed over two batches of these kits to the National Health Mission, Assam, and GMCH. We are making them in bulk to make it available to larger population,” said Prof. Parameswar Krishnan Iyer, lead researcher, IIT Guwahati.

These kits comprise two transport media, one for nasopharyngeal and the other for oropharyngeal specimen collection swabs. Both of these are safe to use as they are recommended and validated by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as well. . The complete package is suitable for the collection, transport, maintenance, and long-term freezer storage of viral specimens. The unique formulation of the transport medium helps in preserving the viability of viruses for up to 72 hours (at refrigerated temperatures).

The swabs have been designed ergonomically with a pre-molded breakpoint on their shaft for enabling secure sampling. These sterile VTM kits comply with the CDC-recommended configurations for viral specimen collection for COVID-19 and are packed in user-friendly individual packs. “These kits will spur development of affordable and high-quality healthcare products in Assam and provide access to world-class kits and career opportunities to healthcare professionals and students,” said Prof Iyer.

In addition to the sterile VTM kits, the Institute has also developed RNA isolation kits and RT-PCR kits jointly with RR Animal Healthcare Ltd. The isolated and purified RNA is then converted to DNA by an enzyme Reverse Transcriptase (RT), which is used to confirm the presence or absence of COVID-19. The large-scale production of all these kits has commenced to meet the requirement of Assam and will be made available across the country soon.