Assam's coroanvirus death toll mounts to 482 with 13 more fatalities

Assam reported 13 more Covid-19 fatalities, pushing the death count to 482, even as the coronavirus tally surged to 144,166 with 2,403 fresh cases

Assam reported 13 more COVID-19

fatalities on Monday, pushing the death count to 482, even as the coronavirus tally surged to 1,44,166 with 2,403 fresh cases, Minister for Health and Family Welfare Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

Six deaths were reported from Sivasagar, Jorhat and Udalguri, while seven from Dhubri, Dibrugarh, Darrang, Dhemaji, Golaghat, Kamrup Metropolitan and Nagaon districts, he said.

The new cases include 538 from Kamrup Metropolitan, 183 fron Dibrugarh, 182 from Lakhimpur, 175 from Jorhat and 118 from Golaghat, Sarma said.

Assam now has 28,630 active cases, while a total of 1,15,051 people, including 1,918 since Sunday, have recovered from the disease. The recovery rate stands at 79.80 per cent.

The state conducted 32,242 tests in the past 24 hours, taking the overall sample testing figure to 27,50,037.

Meanwhile, BJP's Lakhimpur MP Pradan Barua tested positive for COVID-19 in New Delhi on Monday during tests conducted before the Parliament session.

Two other Assam MPs -- Tapan Gogoi and Kamakhya Prasad Tassa -- had also tested positive earlier.

During the day, Sarma distributed appointment letters to 1,000 staff nurses under the National Health Mission, Assam, and 215 ICU technicians under the state health department.

The minister said there has been a spurt in cases as a section of people spread a misinformation campaign against the state government's initiatives to deal with the pandemic, which led many to become slack and negligent.