<p>Once projected by the Centre as a "model region for coronavirus management," seven states of the Northeast has reported over 6,400 COVID-19 positive cases since May, raising fear of community infection.</p>.<p>The tally of COVID-19 positive cases stood at 6,638 on Wednesday, of which 3,259 were still active and 10 succumbed to the deadly virus so far. </p>.<p>Although most of these persons tested postitive after coming back from rest of the country, detection of at least 25 positive cases in Guwahati, in persons having no travel history, left Assam government worried about possible community infection.</p>.<p>On May 9, Union DONER minister Jitendra Singh, while lauding the Northeast said that the states in the region emerged as model of coronavirus management and could be emulated by other states grappling with surge in COVID-19 positive cases. The number of COVID-19 positive cases in Assam and Tripura then was less than 200 while Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh had declared themselves as "COVID-19 free states" after the positive persons recovered. Assam's tally on May 9 stood at 59 of which 36 were related to Nizamuddin incident while 118 cases in Tripura were from two BSF camps in Dhalai district.</p>.<p>Assam saw sudden surge from May 12 when the Centre ran Shramik Special trains to carry stranded persons from rest of the country. Nearly 100 such trains have reached the Northeast so far carrying nearly three lakh persons. Nearly, one lakh people returned by bus and flights too. Only respite for the region is that most of the positive cases have been detected in quarantine centres.</p>.<p><strong>Community infection fear</strong></p>.<p>Fearing community infection, Mizoram on June 8 announced complete lockdown for two-weeks while Manipur decided to cancel flights for 10-days from Thursday in order to clear backlog of 15,000 coronavirus tests. Manipur has only two laboratories. Assam government has started conducting 50,000 tests in Guwahati by June 30 and requested the civil aviation ministry to restrict the number of daily flights to 25 in order to maintain social distancing in the airports. Over 40,000 people returned to Assam by air so far. </p>.<p>As the state governments are struggling to cater to the inflow of such large number of people, community level organisations chipped in by constructing quarantine centres with bamboo and wood, donating vegetables for food supply and joining hands with police and health professionals to strictly enforce the quarantine norms.</p>
<p>Once projected by the Centre as a "model region for coronavirus management," seven states of the Northeast has reported over 6,400 COVID-19 positive cases since May, raising fear of community infection.</p>.<p>The tally of COVID-19 positive cases stood at 6,638 on Wednesday, of which 3,259 were still active and 10 succumbed to the deadly virus so far. </p>.<p>Although most of these persons tested postitive after coming back from rest of the country, detection of at least 25 positive cases in Guwahati, in persons having no travel history, left Assam government worried about possible community infection.</p>.<p>On May 9, Union DONER minister Jitendra Singh, while lauding the Northeast said that the states in the region emerged as model of coronavirus management and could be emulated by other states grappling with surge in COVID-19 positive cases. The number of COVID-19 positive cases in Assam and Tripura then was less than 200 while Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh had declared themselves as "COVID-19 free states" after the positive persons recovered. Assam's tally on May 9 stood at 59 of which 36 were related to Nizamuddin incident while 118 cases in Tripura were from two BSF camps in Dhalai district.</p>.<p>Assam saw sudden surge from May 12 when the Centre ran Shramik Special trains to carry stranded persons from rest of the country. Nearly 100 such trains have reached the Northeast so far carrying nearly three lakh persons. Nearly, one lakh people returned by bus and flights too. Only respite for the region is that most of the positive cases have been detected in quarantine centres.</p>.<p><strong>Community infection fear</strong></p>.<p>Fearing community infection, Mizoram on June 8 announced complete lockdown for two-weeks while Manipur decided to cancel flights for 10-days from Thursday in order to clear backlog of 15,000 coronavirus tests. Manipur has only two laboratories. Assam government has started conducting 50,000 tests in Guwahati by June 30 and requested the civil aviation ministry to restrict the number of daily flights to 25 in order to maintain social distancing in the airports. Over 40,000 people returned to Assam by air so far. </p>.<p>As the state governments are struggling to cater to the inflow of such large number of people, community level organisations chipped in by constructing quarantine centres with bamboo and wood, donating vegetables for food supply and joining hands with police and health professionals to strictly enforce the quarantine norms.</p>