350 tea estates in Assam hit by COVID-19

Government decides to facilitate offline vaccination as many plantation workers don’t have mobile phones

COVID-19 infections have spread fast across the tea belt in eastern Assam, affecting almost half of the State’s 803 major tea estates. Assam’s Health and Family Welfare Department could not provide data specific to the tea estates. But associations of tea workers said about 350 estates have been affected, leaving more than 20 workers dead. “It is difficult to give the exact figures, but almost all gardens are affected. But a majority of some 6,200 workers who tested positive are from the gardens in five-six districts,” Congress-affiliated Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha leader Lakheswar Tanti said.