Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Friday directed the deputy commissioner of South Salmara-Mankachar district to take immediate steps to check the movement of any person to the “no man’s land” along the India-Bangladesh border in the district for farming to check the spread of the coronavirus.

Like India, Bangladesh is also affected by the virus which has claimed about 27 lives till Friday afternoon.

DoNER minister Jitendra Singh on Friday said the international border in the Northeast (around 5,500km-long) had been effectively sealed to enforce the lockdown.

Urging the district administration to be in regular touch with the BSF during a meeting at Hatsingimari in the district, Sonowal urged the food and civil supplies and consumer affairs department to ensure uninterrupted supply of essential goods and to ensure adequate supply of fruits during Ramadan in view of the lockdown likely to be extended.