Guwahati has reported a spike in cases over the last month.
As three weeks of an intensive lockdown ends in Assam's Guwahati on Saturday, the state government is likely to adopt a staggered approach to re-open the city - a COVID-19 hotspot in the state - from the next week, Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Thursday.
"During unlocking, we cannot open up everything together. We will take a staggered approach," Mr Sarma said on Thursday.
His remarks came on a day when the state's health department started 60 new COVID-19 screening centres in Guwahati and also initiate "aggressive treatment" for the patients with moderate symptoms.
On Sunday, the state government - in line with the World Health Organisation's suggested module of "Test-Trace-Treat" in the fight against COVID-19 - announced opening of 60 new screening centres by the end of this week in Guwahati, which has seen a rapid spread of the disease this month.
At least 150 medical personnel will be recruited so that Assam can test at least three lakh people the state Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told the reporters on Thursday.
"If we consider Guwahati's population to be around 10 lakh, we need to test at least three lakh people. The state has so far tested 1.10 lakh samples and we need to test 1.90 lakh more. Tracing the contamination through extensive testing and then the aggressively treat those, is the only way forward," Mr Sarma said.
He added, "Guwahati already has over 31 such screening centres each in every ward. Each ward has three area sabhas, which will also now have Covid centres. By the end of this week, we are aiming to set up 90 such screening centres. The department is in the process of recruiting 150 personnel on a walk-in basis. Their jobs, however, will be permanent."
As a part of the "aggressive treatment", the state has procured 100 veils of Eculizumap, a monoclonal antibody drug, recently approved by Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation(CDSCO), to treat patients with mild to moderate symptoms.
"After discussion with doctors of the state's medical colleges, along with those from the AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences), we have decided to administer aggressive medical treatment that involves putting on oxygen support and administered with medicines like Dexamethasone, steroid, Remdisivr, antiviral injections and now, Eculizumap," Mr Sarma said.
He said, so far, about 138 patients have got admitted in intensive care units of which 40 died, 45 recovered and 53 are still undergoing treatment.
Assam has logged nearly 20,000 cases so far; over 1,000 new patients were reported yesterday. Forty-eight patients have died so far.