Assam: Pre-Puja vaccination drive may check Covid-19 spread after festivities

GUWAHATI: Health authorities believe that widespread coverage of Covid-19 vaccination might have kept the positivity rate in Assam's Guwahati in check during Durga Puja celebrations when physical distancing went for a toss.
Health department sources said that Puja organizers will be tested again if the situation demands. The positivity rate has not gone above 2 per cent in the city yet even though people thronged pandals after 10pm when curfew time began in the state.
The Kamrup (Metro) district has succeeded in vaccinating more than cent per cent of the previously estimated population.Additional DC Gunajit Roy Choudhury said against the previously targetted 11 lakh 18+ population in the urban district, 13 lakh people have already been vaccinated with the first dose.
“The Covid-19 vaccination definitely had its impact during the festive season. Otherwise, we would have seen thousands of fresh infections,” Dr Ganesh Saikia, joint director of health services, Kamrup (Metro), told TOI on Saturday.
Though the overall Covid positivity rate in the state has been below 1 per cent for a long time, during the Puja days it crossed 1 per cent. In Kamrup (Metro), the corresponding figure was 1.03 per cent on Friday (Vijaya Dashami), 1.75 per cent on Thursday and 1.17 per cent on Wednesday.
However, health department officials are still keeping a close watch on the situation as it may take four to seven days for the infection to get detected in the body. “Four to seven days are good enough to identify the infection. We are closely monitoring the situation,” Assam national health mission director Lakshmanan S said.
He said that prior to Durga Puja, the government had pushed hard for vaccination and 1.97 crore people in the state were given the first dose, whereas 65 lakh people over 18 years of age were fully vaccinated.
“The vaccination drive has helped us check the spread of the disease. We hope the people involved in organising Pujas were careful,” Lakshmanan added.
Earlier, state health minister Keshab Mahanta had said that at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine would be mandatory for entering Durga Puja pandals. The implementation of the directive, meant for both devotees and organizers, could not be possible because of the huge footfall at pandals.