Covid-19 spreads to Assam tea gardens; nearly 300 cases reported

On Thursday, Assam recorded 4,936 new positive cases, which was the highest-ever single day figure for the state since the pandemic started last year. It also recorded 46 deaths on Thursday

Covid-19 has found its way to Assam’s tea gardens with close to 300 positive cases detected in Dibrugarh and Biswanath districts in the past few days.

A tea garden in Assam. (HT archive)

“We found many cases in Zaloni tea estate. On the first day of testing, 39 positive cases were detected. On day 2, 90 reports came positive and nearly 50 more on the third day,” said Dr Nabajyoti Gogoi, joint director (in-charge), health services, Dibrugarh, said on Friday.

He added that around 60 cases were found in two other tea gardens after a special testing drive. The tea gardens have been declared containment zones and as most cases are asymptomatic, they have been quarantined or in home isolation, depending on their condition.

“A sero survey in several tea gardens in our district last year found that most people were not infected during the first wave,” said Dr Gogoi.

“This year, when cases started rising in the state, we conducted tests in these places again and found positive cases. If the test drive hadn’t been conducted, most patients, who are asymptomatic, would have gone unnoticed and continued to spread the virus,” he added.

Several cases among tea garden workers have been detected in Biswanath district as well and the administration has taken measures to ensure the virus doesn’t spread to other areas.

“We have detected 46 cases in Nilpur tea garden in the past 4-5 days. The area has been declared a containment zone and infected persons isolated. Most of them are asymptomatic. Those showing severe symptoms have been transferred to hospitals,” said Biswanath deputy commissioner Pranab Kumar Sarmah.

On Thursday, Assam recorded 4,936 new positive cases, which was the highest-ever single day figure for the state since the pandemic started last year. It also recorded 46 deaths on Thursday.

At present, Assam has 31,829 active cases. The state’s daily positivity rate has been recorded between 8% and 10% for the past several days.