Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the state is working in tandem to control COVID-19. (File)
Assam's fight against COVID-19 is unparalleled with any other state, state chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed today.
On the last day of the three-day state assembly session, Mr Sarma said: "No state can compare with Assam in fight against the second wave of Covid. We are working in tandem to control Covid in Assam. In terms of recovery rate, mortality rate and disease burden rate... After one month, Assam will be the first or second state in India (in controlling the spread of coronavirus)."
His statement comes just a week after he had said that the impact of the second wave of COVID-19 has been "extremely severe" in Assam for which medical infrastructure needs to be strengthened.
However, the chief minister today claimed that Assam is the only state in India which has been providing Oxygen to other neighbouring states of the Northeast region. "Till now, we have provided Oxygen supplies to Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Manipur and Tripura. We have adequate supplies of Oxygen in Assam and we are a proud state that in this crisis time, we can help other states by supplying Oxygen."
He said no state in India is working like Assam in the second wave of COVID-19. "Name one state which is providing own oxygen supplies to other states. You will be glad to know that after fulfilling our own demand of Oxygen, Assam is providing Oxygen to other northeastern states," he added.
Mr Sarma also said the state has supplied 2,000 Remdesivir injections to Jharkhand for treatment of Covid patients. "Everybody is getting ICU facilities and bed facilities in the hospitals of Assam. The principals of Assam Medical College & Hospital and Gauhati Medical College are working in tandem and monitoring all activities in the hospitals," he said.
Mr Sarma, who was the former state health minister, has often been criticised for his handling of the pandemic. Just last month, he had said that there is "no Covid in Assam... (so) there is no need to wear a face mask."
On Sunday, Assam recorded 3,563 Covid cases out of 62,722 samples while the positivity rate stood at 5.68 per cent. The recovery rate has reached 84.87 per cent in the state.