A 53-year-old man kept in a quarantine centre died on Wednesday morning in Laluk in Lakhimpur district, around 22 kilometres from North Lakhimpur town.

The man, who hails from Barpeta was a part of a four-member Tablighi Jamat team who were in Lakhimpur for their religious mission.

They were camping in a mosque in Laluk at the time of the start of lockdown and were put in the No. 1 Dharmapur Maktab for quarantine by the Lakhimpur district health department.

The deceased had no travel history to Nizamuddin Markaz in Delhi or the Aathgaon Kabarstan mosque in Guwahati said an official of the Lakhimpur district administration.

It is learnt that the quarantined man was in good health until Tuesday night.

It is still not confirmed whether the person died of COVID-19 or for other reasons.

Report of his throat swab test been sent to ICMR lab in Dibrugarh.

Soon after his death was discovered a team of health staff rushed to the quarantine centre at Laluk and took the body for post mortem.

The Lakhimpur district administration, meanwhile, has taken up elaborate measures for the supply and distribution of essential commodities for the residents of containment zone in North Lakhimpur.

Office of the Lakhimpur Deputy Commissioner further informed that two suppliers in Ward No. 13 and Ward No. 11 of KB Road have been authorized to operate their shops for all grocery items including baby food, sanitizers and other daily essential commodities in the containment zone of North Lakhimpur town.

The Abdul Latif Baruah Road in Ward No. 11 of North Lakhimpur was declared a containment zone following the testing of a person with COVID-19 positive on April 3.

The district administration has also authorized 10 milk vendors, 7 animal feed vendors and 14 poultry vendors to supply in North Lakhimpur by maintaining social distancing during the lockdown period.

There are 70 homeless persons and migrant labours being accommodated in four relief camps across Lakhimpur district.

The district administration has also set up another relief camp for stranded migrant workers in the North Lakhimpur Town Model School.

The Lakhimpur District Food and Civil Supplies suspended the licenses of two Fair Price Shops for their irregularities during the lockdown.

The suspended PDS stores belong to one Anil Hazarika of Ward No. 10 of North Lakhimpur WCCS Ltd and Meera Sonowal of Moinapara under Kadam GPSS Ltd.

The district administration has also exempted 10 licensed rice mills of Lakhimpur district from the lockdown in pursuance of Govt. Notification No. HLA248/2020/35 Dated 23/03/2020 and the Advisory of food items and maintenance of supply chain vide letter number FSA50/2020/21 Dated 26/03/2020.

The district administration has also authorized four NGOs to operate in providing food to street dogs and stray cattle in the district.

The Lakhimpur district administration has also imposed a ban on all types of religious functions, gatherings and social and cultural programmes in the district during the second lockdown period which starts from Wednesday.

Farhana Ahmed is Northeast Now Correspondent in North Lakhimpur. She can be reached at: [email protected]