The Assam Basfore Schedule Caste Student Union distributed free masks among people in the market area and slums in Kokrajhar, urging them to regularly wear them.

The Union educated people in slums on the need to maintain hygiene and follow all protocols.

Even though the district administration has been fining people with Rs 500 for not wearing face masks, there are still many who do not follow Covid-19 protocols in the district.

.Bhim Basfore, president of the Union said, “The acute shortage of oxygen supply together with shortage of beds for multiplying Covid-19 cases will further deteriorate the situation in the country.”

“The first wave of Covid-19 had crippled the healthcare system of developed nations like US, but they have been able to contain the spread to a certain extent,” Basfore said.

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The Union said that when the Indian government should have been preparing for the second wave, its leaders were busy in election campaigns that led to the spread of the virus.

While India has vaccinated only 10 per cent of its population, US has already vaccinated 60 per cent of its population, the organization said.

Rinoy Basumatary is Northeast Now Correspondent in Kokrajhar. He can be reached at: [email protected]