Fact Check: Assam govt planning to impose COVID-19 lockdown? CM Himanta Biswa clarifies

Amid pandemic, fake news is mushrooming on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. Recently, there are rumours being spread that there could be another lockdown in Assam. However, dismissing reports, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma called it 'totally baseless'. 

There are rumours on social media platforms that Assam will go into lockdown. A user on Twitter said, "Lockdown season 3 coming." Another tweeted, the state will go into shutdown after by-polls on October 30. 

Assam CM Himanta Biswa called the rumours fake about the reimposition of lockdown. He urged people to not pay heed to such misinformation and join the government's efforts of vaccinating all citizens.

In a tweet, Sarma said, "NO LOCKDOWN IN ASSAM, It has come to my notice that some unscrupulous elements are spreading rumours about re-imposition of lockdown. Such rumours are totally baseless. I urge everyone NOT to pay heed to such misinformation. Let’s join Govt efforts on mass & 100% vaccination."

COVID-19 in Assam

Assam on Sunday reported 139 new COVID-19 cases, a sudden decline to its five-day streak of more than 300 single-day infections, according to a bulletin issued by the National Health Mission. The state's caseload stands at 6,08,589 with fresh cases detected out of 19,713 samples while reporting five more COVID deaths.

Assam currently has 2,510 active cases and more than 5.98 lakh individuals have recovered from the disease, The northeastern state has administered coronavirus vaccine to 2,71,12,132 people, the bulletin said.

In the last 24 hours, the country reported 14,306 new Covid-19 cases, according to Health Ministry's morning update. The recovery rate stands at 98.18% which is the highest since March 2020. Total recoveries are 3,35,67,367, including 18,762 recovering in the past 24 hours. The active cases account for less than 1 % of the total cases, current at 0.49%. So far, 60.07 crore COVID tests have been conducted.

India vaccination drive

India has administered more than 102.27 crore vaccination doses under the nationwide vaccination drive. The eligible adult population in Andaman Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim and Himachal Pradesh, Lakshadweep Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Uttarakhand have received at least one COVID vaccine dose. Covaxin, Covishield, and Sputnik V are presently being used in the country's vaccination drive.