After 'huge success' of Janata Curfew in Assam, police asks

The Assam Police thanked people for making the "Janata Curfew" a "huge success", and urged them to remain indoors for a few hours more - till 8 AM on Monday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged people to remain indoors during the 'Janata Curfew' between 7 AM and 9 PM on Sunday to check the spread of novel coronavirus.

"We request you to stay indoors till 8 am tomorrow. Pls don't move out, until extremely necessary. Let's do this in the interest of public health & safety," Assam Police said in its official twitter handle.

"We thank the people of Assam for making the #JantaCurfew a huge success, it's but a start in our fight against #CoronaVirus," it said.

Assam wore a deserted look on Sunday with markets shut and vehicles off the roads as people stayed indoors in response to Modi's "Janata Curfew" call.

Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal also thanked people and asked them not to come out of their homes to make the exercise a 100 per cent success.

"Glad to see peoples' spontaneous support across Assam to the call of #JantaCurfew to prevent spread of #COVID19. Together let's fight against this pandemic," Sonowal said in a tweet.

In an earlier tweet, he had said he will stay at home joining the "Janta Curfew", and warned people that the coronavirus chain would not break even if a few ventures out.

The 14-hour voluntary curfew began at 7 AM, but most of the people did not come out since Saturday night.

The prime minister's appeal of the voluntary self- quarantine exempted essential services, but several pharmacies too pulled down their shutters in the state.

In Guwahati, people stayed indoors and all markets and commercial establishments were shut.

The districts also witnessed a similar picture with empty national highways and closed markets as people largely remained inside their homes.

A few two-wheelers and private cars were seen on the roads in the morning, primarily out to collect essential items such as milk and bread.

The state breathed a sigh of relief with the second test of the sample of a four-and-a-half-year-old girl turning out to be negative, hours after she tested positive.

Over 1.72 lakh people were screened across Assam till March 21 in wake of the pandemic, the Health and Family Welfare Department said.

In its daily bulletin, the department said that 26,094 passengers were screened at the six airports in the state.

While 7,181 travellers were screened at the three land ports -- Darranga (Baksa), Mankachar (South Salmara) and Sutarkandi (Karimganj), 1,38,919 people were screened at other places such as rail stations and bus stands.