Assam reported two fresh Covid-19 cases on Tuesday at a time when life seemed to be limping back to normal in the state’s green zone districts following lockdown relaxations.
With Goalpara district reporting its sixth case and Kokrajhar its first, the state’s Covid count has gone up to 44 with 11 active cases so far. While 32 persons have been discharged, one had died.
The fresh case in Goalpara has come from a containment zone, prompting health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to appeal to the people not to be afraid.
The 55-year-old patient is a religious leader and Goalpara is a hotspot. He had come into contact with a secondary contact of Nizamuddin Markaz, the religious congregation that was held in New Delhi in March.
The patient in Kokrajhar district had a travel history to Cooch Behar in West Bengal.
However, the mood was different in the state capital. People from all sections stepped out of their homes, crowding the streets.
The Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) deployed 200 more city buses on Tuesday to accommodate the commuters.
Transport officials were seen at several bus stops, asking people to adhere to the social distancing norms and registering passengers’ names for future context.
Business establishments also opened, adhering to the one-third rotation policy prescribed by the Kamrup (metro) district administration.
Shops opened with clear markings for consumers to maintain social distance. However, in many places, people skipped the norms of wearing masks and maintaining social distance.
On Tuesday, the state government added a few more directives to the guidelines issued earlier, pertaining to relaxations in businesses and work in the state.
The fresh guidelines issued by chief secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna allowed:
- All industries and their supply chain to operate in the state without the need for any specific order and all personnel working therein to commute to work at all times.
- Tea industries, warehouses and the workers engaged therein to operate at all times.
- All activities related to PDS operations, FCI, railways, LPG and petroleum delivery services and the workers engaged therein to operate at all times.
- Bank employees to move beyond 6pm, depending on the necessity. The government had earlier restricted people’s movement by imposing a curfew between 6pm and 6am. Emergency and essential services were exempted.
- All automobile dealerships and outlets to operate between 6am and 5pm.
- Supply chain related to essential food items like milk, fish and other perishables and the workers engaged therein to operate at all times.
- All essential services, including conservancy services by municipal bodies and other government agencies, to operate at all times.
- Private offices located in the same building as that of a mall to operate. The shops in the same building, however, cannot open.
- Shops in market complex to operate with two shops closed between two open shops. However, grocery shops, pharmacies and medical establishments situated therein are allowed to open on all days during the permitted hours.
- All shops in rural areas, except in malls, can remain open without any distinction of essential and non-essential.
- All types of goods-carrying vehicles to ply at all times.
- All construction activities, including highway construction and flood control works, at all times.
- Large standalone shops can operate with limited number of entrants.
Additional reporting by Sofikul Ahmed in Goalpara