Covid-19 positivity rate in Assam has come down by a little over three percentage points since May 13 but at least 80 to 85 deaths being reported daily continue to be a concern for the state's Health Department.
The state on Monday registered 84 deaths and 6,221 new Covid-19 cases. The Health Department conducted 1.20 lakh tests.
The state's rate of positivity touched 9.18 per cent on May 13 but on Monday it came down to 6.16 per cent. The number of new cases in the Kamrup Metro district (Guwahati) also came down from 1,600 to 729 during the same period.
But Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said barring Guwahati, the scenario in the rest of Assam has not improved much. "Although the rate of positivity is coming down, the number of people getting infected is not decreasing much. So we must continue to maintain the Covid-19-appropriate behaviour. We hope the situation will improve in the next 10 days," Sarma said after reviewing the Covid-19 situation in Western Assam's Dhubri district that shares a border with West Bengal.
Sarma asked the district administration officials to increase RT-PCR tests and keep a vigil on the passengers entering the state given the concern that people coming from outside were responsible for the increasing number of cases.
The state government on Tuesday decided to extend the curfew (between 12 noon to 5 am) till June 5 and advanced the timing of curfew in rural areas to 2 pm from 5 pm maintained earlier.
The chief minister, however, assured that there was no shortage of oxygen in Assam and the state was supplying 15 MT of oxygen daily to other neighbouring states in the Northeast. Efforts were on to increase the number of beds, ICU facilities and Covid Care Centres in order to reduce home isolation, he said. Improper adherence to the Covid-19 protocols by those in home isolation and lack of necessary facilities at home was found to be a major reason for more deaths in Assam in the second wave of the Covid-19.
A total of 2,823 persons have died due to Covid-19 in Assam since the pandemic hit the state in March last year. Another 1,347 Covid-19 persons with comorbidities have also died since then.