Guwahati: As the Covid-19 cases are rapidly increasing in Assam, the State government in Dispur imposes night curfew from Tuesday evening starting from 8 pm to 5 am till 1 May next. Essential and emergency services have however been exempted across the State and there would be no restriction on inter-State movement and transportation of essential/non- essential goods.
The government had already ordered to close the shutters of all market places and shops by 6 pm. Using face masks have been made mandatory for everyone. However, individuals engaged in providing emergency services have been exempted. Judicial officers and staff of the courts, passengers with valid tickets, journalists and citizens going for vaccination have also been excused.
State chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday visited the Guwahati medical college hospital to take stock of oxygen storage and other treatment facilities for Covid-19 patients. Sonowal accompanied by State health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma with others also inspected various steps taken by the hospital authority to tackle the pandemic.
In presence of top State health officials including Samir Kumar Sinha, GMCH principal Dr Achyut Baishya, its superintendent Dr Abhijit Sarma and other responsible officials, Sonowal briefed the media about various initiative taken by the government to effectively manage the public health related crisis. He assured the people that adequate number of hospital beds, ICUs, vaccines, oxygen, etc have been kept ready for meeting exigencies. Expressing concern that some people have not paid heed to the advisory issued by the health department on corona- protocols, Sonowal repeatedly called on them to take the precautionary measures such wearing of masks, hand washing and using sanitizers seriously to contain the pandemic. He also thanked the journalists for helping the government in its efforts of combating the pandemic by creating mass awareness.
Earlier, Sonowal took a comprehensive review of corona-situation in Sonitpur and Biswanath districts during a meeting. He directed the district administrations and health officials to expedite vaccination of targeted population and urged them to encourage and promote corona-appropriate behaviour among the people. Sonowal asked the administration to carry out miking in the tea gardens to sensitize garden people about the pandemic.
Sonowal took stock of the oxygen generation capacity of the plant at Tezpur medical college hospital and asked officials to ensure necessary infrastructure for the patients. Underling the need for strict adherence of corona protocols issued by the government, he declared that following the guidance of PM Modi, it has adopted a five-fold strategies (testing, tracing, treatment, corona-appropriate behaviour and vaccination) to combat the corona-outbreak.
