Community transmission of COVID breaks into tea garden in Cachar; “Test aggressively and isolate,” suggests Dr. Ravi Kannan

The tea garden workers across the state live in congested settlements in the neighborhood of the garden they work. This saves travel time, but it is risky. As proven at the slums of Dharavi in Mumbai, once an infection reaches these settlements, it spreads fast.

In the Cachar district, areas under the Jalalpur Medical Block were reporting an abnormally high number of cases for the last few days. That is why, as stated by district media expert Suman Choudhury, the administration has decided to intensify targeted surveillance in that zone. As a result of that, an unusual trend emerged today.

According to the data shared by the health department, 44 samples were tested in Kurkuri Tea Estate. Located in Katigorah Assembly Constituency, Kurkuri tea estate is owned by Kolkata-based, North East Tea Company. Out of the 44 samples tested, 16 happened to be positive recording 36.36% positivity. As all of them live in that settlement, this is feared to be an outbreak of community transmission in a tea garden.

It is worth mentioning here that the 36.36% positivity rate is far higher than Assam’s overall rate which according to Himanta Biswa Sarma stands at 8.04%.

While it is unlikely that the labourers would have a travel history, it is possible the people with travel history who belong to the upper strata have employed family members of these labourers as house-help. From there the virus could spread to the labour line. Think tanks in the Cachar administration, according to sources, also doubt that the truck drivers might carry the infection along.

In Kalain, Katigorah stretch by the highway, thousands of truck drivers stay stationed. From there the virus could spread as not only Kurkuri tea estate, the entire Jalalpur block is reporting a high number of cases.

Padma Shri, Dr. Ravi Kannan feels it is important to pay attention to this high number of cases in the tea estate. “The only solution is to test aggressively and isolate. Everybody in that community must be tested and appropriate measures must be taken. There is nothing else that we can do. What is important is to ensure that they don’t act as a source of infection to others,” asserted Dr. Kannan.

He feels that this will happen in communities that live in close proximity. “One person might have gone to the market or anywhere and got infected and now it is spreading. It is important to isolate the entire community for two weeks. Ensure that they get the necessary food, water, vegetable. What we must understand is that the ones testing negative today can test positive in four days. So, I reiterate, aggressively testing and isolating is all that can be done to keep them safe,” Dr, Kannan added.