GUWAHATI, April 3 - Governor Prof Jagdish Mukhi today informed the President of India Ram Nath Kovind that Assam is in control of the situation arising out of the outbreak of the novel coronavirus and assured him that adequate steps are being taken to protect the livelihood of people, including measures to safeguard the livelihood of the 10 lakh-strong tea garden workers and 26 lakh farmers of the State, apart from ensuring their food security.
In a video conference today, which was addressed by the President of India along with the Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu for the Governors, the Prof Mukhi said that though the menace inflicted by novel coronavirus has also swept Assam and several people have been tested positive after they attended the Tablighi Zamaat congregation, the Government of Assam is in the process of taking comprehensive measures to deal with the situation.
The Governor also said that the tea industry, which is the major revenue earner for Assam, is not affected by Covid-19.
He also informed the President that till March 30 of the previous month, there were no COVID-19 positive case in Assam but now the number has spiked and that as many as 16 positive cases have been reported and all of them have been reported to have attended the Tablighi Zamaat congregation.
Later, the State government confirmed that the number of positive cases in State was 20.
Vice President Naidu, who also participated in the video conference, said that since the economy of Assam is predominantly based on agriculture, farmers� welfare during this epidemic period should be given top priority and the government should lend capacity to the farmers with regards to cropping and harvesting.
During the conference, Prof Mukhi said that Assam is observing the 21-day lockdown and �social distancing� along with the rest of the country. The Council of Ministers of the State has taken all inclusive steps, including creating adequate health infrastructure, for giving right kind of treatment to the affected people in all the 33 districts of the State.
The Governor also drew the attention of the President that the Assam Red Cross Society has been activated to create large scale awareness among the public to impart behavioural change narratives especially among the rural people to motivate them to adopt social distancing and avoid community gathering.
The President asked the Governor to maintain strict surveillance across the State and ensure government intervention especially in the vulnerable areas and help all the service providing agencies to bail the State out of the COVID-19 scourge.