With Covid-19 positive cases increasing in rural areas, the Assam government is rushing to set up a "war room" in each panchayat to make villages Coronavirus-free.
As part of the move, the state's panchayat and rural development department has launched a drive called Jan Andolan to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in the villages and facilitate testing for all the panchayats.
"It has been decided to form ward level task force in all 10 wards under a panchayat. Those coming back to their villages from other parts of the country would be identified by using a software called SAMPARKA and tests would be conducted in order to prevent further spread of the virus. Our target is to make the villages Coronavirus free as early as possible," said an official source.
Assam's Covid-19 positivity rate came down from 9.18 per cent in the second week of this month to 4.91 per cent on Wednesday. However, the state continues to report nearly 6,000 cases daily. The state currently has 52,884 active cases. On Wednesday it reported 90 deaths.
The number of Covid-19 cases has come down from about 1,600 in the second week of this month to 670 in the Kamrup Metro district which includes the state capital Guwahati. "The number of cases have slightly come down in the urban areas after the curfew time was advanced to 11 am. But the numbers are increasing in the rural areas. So we are equally focussing in the rural areas to contain the spread of the virus and check deaths," said the official.
The curfew timing in the rural areas has been advanced from 5 pm to 2 pm.