GUWAHATI, April 22 : Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Thursday appealed to all political parties of the state to cooperate with the government and put up a united fight to control the COVID-19 situation.
Chairing a meeting attended by the representatives of various political parties of the state at the Assam Administrative Staff College here on Thursday, Sonowal called upon the leaders of the parties to work together “in the spirit of Team Assam” in these trying times and also encourage and promote COVID-19 appropriate behaviour among people.
Besides the ruling BJP and alliance partner Asom Gana Parishad, representatives of Indian National Congress, UPPL, RJD, Assam Jatiya Parishad, Raijor Dal, CPI (M), CPI (M-L), NPP, among other parties, attended the meeting.
The party representatives appreciated the efforts of the government in tackling the first wave of the virus last year, while sharing their opinions and pledging to rise beyond party interests to cooperate with the state government in its efforts to control the situation.
“We must adhere to the protocol of “Test, Trace and Treat,” the chief minister said, while also appealing to the people of Assam to strictly adhere to the standard operating procedures put in place by the state health department.
Sonowal said that the state government has been able to keep the situation under control as of now because of the measures taken by the health department, but “every citizen must be careful in the coming days”.
“Everyone must cooperate as well. This cannot be a fight restricted to the government,” he said, while urging the people to adhere to the SOPs strictly “to avoid another lockdown.”
The chief minister also reviewed two presentations highlighting measures to contain the virus.
Meanwhile, Assam’s overall COVID-19 tally rose to 2,29,138 on Wednesday with 1,665 more people tested positive for the virus while five new deathspushed the coronavirus death toll to 1,150.
Of the COVID-19 cases detected on Wednesday, 674 patients were detected from Kamrup Metropolitan district, followed by 125 in Kamrup district, 74 in Nagaon and 67 in Dibrugarh.
“In difficult times like these, it is critical for us all to come together and unitedly step up our strategies and action to combat the pandemic,” health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted later.