The Assam government has hinted at the community spread of COVID-19 , but within a specific part of Guwahati.
Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the spike in the number of cases reported among people without any travel history was a matter of grave concern.
Also read: Coronavirus | Northeast sees sudden jump in COVID-19 cases
“Thirteen cases were reported from society. So, there is a strain moving. We have to stop it at some point. We have some worries about Guwahati,” he told newspersons on Wednesday evening.
The Health Department identified three localities where they said the trend pointed to the spread of the virus at the community level.
Mr. Sarma said such cases have been found around pharmaceutical outlets where many people buy medicines as well as warehouses in some congested areas of the city.
Health officials said the recent trend was worrying since 98% of the positive cases reported less than a week ago were linked to returnees lodged in the institutional quarantine centres.
Also read: Caught between two NE states, COVID-19 patient from Nagaland in limbo
Mizoram hits century
Mizoram on June 11 became the fifth northeastern State to record a century of COVID-19 positive cases, all returnees. The tally reached 102 two days after the State bucked the ‘unlock’ trend elsewhere in the country to impose a total lockdown for two weeks from June 9.
Chief Minister Zoramthanga had defended the decision, saying it was the best way to check the novel coronavirus from spreading.
Assam, with 3,319 positive cases till 2 p.m, was the first State to record a century of cases, followed by Tripura, now with 897 cases. Manipur, currently with 309 cases, and Nagaland (128) were the third and fourth.
Arunachal Pradesh has reported 61 cases, Meghalaya 44 and Sikkim 13. So far, eight people have died – six of them in Assam and one each in Tripura and Meghalaya.
