Local authorities have closed a tea estate in eastern Assam’s Dibrugarh district after 198 workers and members of their families tested positive for COVID-19.
The Zaloni Tea Estate was declared a containment zone on Wednesday. District Surveillance Officer of Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme, Nabajyoti Gogoi said the cases were reported over the past 48 hours. “The patients have been kept at the tea garden hospital and in some empty houses within the estate. Health officials have been vaccinating other workers of the garden and their family members who tested negative,” he said. About 60 other cases were also reported from two adjoining tea estates. An average of 4,596 people tested positive in the last three days in Assam. The number of cases on May 3 was 4,489 — twice that of 2,385 recorded on the previous day. The number of people who died has been increasing from 29 on May 3 to 41 and 55 in the next two days.
Lockdown in Meghalaya
The Meghalaya government announced a total lockdown in Shillong and elsewhere in the East Khasi Hills district from 8 p.m. on Wednesday till 5 a.m. on May 10. A weekend lockdown has been enforced in the other districts of the State.
