India's northeast region, which was mostly untouched by the coronavirus pandemic and reported very few cases over the months, is now recording a spike in the number of infections.
Assam's capital Guwahati has become a coronavirus hotspot in the Northeast as the city recorded nearly 3,000 cases in just five days. The city registered 2,938 cases in five day. Assam so far has 4,233 COVID-19 positive cases of which Guwahati accounts for 70 per cent of the cases.
On July 4, Guwahati recorded 777 positive cases for COVID-19, contributing to a highest single-day spike of 1,202 in Assam, according to the Assam Health Department.
Guwahati registered 552 positive cases on July 5, 598 cases on July 6, 588 cases on July 7 and 423 cases on July 8. The figures are almost crossing the 500-mark every day in Guwahati.
The state tally has now surged to an alarming 14,032.
So far, 22 people have died in Assam of COVID-19.
As the number of cases surge, the state government has allowed only the stand-alone grocery shops to function between 11 am and 4 pm daily from July 6 to July 10.
Only pharmacies and select petrol pumps are allowed to operate. The state health department? from July 7 has started door-to-door COVID-19 tests by rapid testing kits to understand and tackle the crisis.
Districts such as Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Morigaon, Nagaon, Kokrajhar, Sonitpur, Biswanath, Nalbari, Barpeta, South Salmara, Dhubri and Darrang hae banned entry of people from Guwahati.