On Friday, Assam reported 1,167 positive cases with a positivity rate of 3.32 percent. (File)
At a time when Assam has imposed fresh restrictions to contain the spread of coronavirus, the state elections commission has decided to go ahead with local autonomous council elections that are scheduled to take place on January 20, the same day the third wave is predicted to peak in Assam.
"Our projections shows that Assam will see the third wave peak after January 20 and that time the cases per day might go beyond 12,000 a day" Assam Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said in a press conference on Friday.
The poll panel has decided to hold the elections, that were announced last month, as it issued a notification declaring a public holiday on January 20 for people who will cast votes for the 26-member Thengal Kachari Autonomous district council, a council for the Indigenous Thegal Kachari people of Upper Assam region.
"The Governor of Assam is pleased to declare 20th January, 2022 (day of poll) as Public Holiday... for Thengal Kachari Autonomous Council Election, 2022, in the entire area falling within the Thengal Kachari Autonomous Council where polling will be held on that day as announced by Assam State Election Commission," the notification said.
Amid an exponential rise in Covid cases in India, largely driven by the Omicron variant, Assam has tightened the curbs in a set of fresh rules effective today. All people who test positive for Covid will be treated as suspected cases of the new highly contagious variant.
People who are not fully vaccinated would not be allowed at any public places.
For students of nursery, classes 1-5, schools will be shut. A hybrid model for the students of classes 9 -12 will be in force - they will attend the classes physically for three days, and rest of the days, it will be online.
The northeastern state has recorded nine Omicron cases so far - all patients have now turned negative.
On Friday, Assam reported 1,167 positive cases with a positivity rate of 3.32 percent -- 517 cases were from Guwahati alone.