The Zaloni tea estate in the Dibrugarh district has been forced to shut down after 133 people tested positive for COVID-19.

According to Deputy Commissioner Pallav Gopal Jha, the estate has been declared a containment zone.

"133 cases were detected at Zaloni tea estate till yesterday. All patients are asymptomatic. The tea estate has now been declared a containment zone," Jha said as quoted by ANI.

Coronavirus cases in the country have been rapidly increasing over the last few weeks. In Assam, there are currently 31,262 active cases. A total of 2,40,004 recoveries and 1,485 deaths have been reported from the state so far.

The Centre on Wednesday reviewed the COVID-19 preparedness of Assam, along with four other eastern states to face the current phase of the pandemic, and highlighted five critical areas of action. 

On the other hand, the Biswanath district administration on Thursday sealed Nilpur tea estate and declared it a containment zone after 42 workers and staff members of the tea garden tested positive for Covid-19.

Meanwhile, the district administrations of both Dibrugarh and Biswanath have started vaccination drives in their tea garden areas.