Assam breaches 500-mark in COVID-19 cases; 122 new infections

Assam recorded its highest single-day spike of 122 cases on Monday, taking the total past the 500-mark, Health and Family Welfare Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

With these fresh cases, the total number of COVID-19 infections has gone up to 514 in the state, of which 445 are active cases, Sarma said in a tweet.

"Alert ~ 48 new cases of #COVID19+. 16 Karimganj, 8 Lakhimpur, 8 Ghy Qrnt, 5 Cachar, 4 Hailakandi, 3 South Salmara, 2 Nalbari, 1 each Morigaon/Goalpara," he tweeted.

In a series of tweets earlier during the day, Sarma said samples of 74 people from across different districts tested positive for the virus.

Of these, 53 are from Golaghat, six from Kokrajhar, five from Karimganj, four from Dhemaji, two each from Tinsukia and Sivasagar, and one each from Nagaon and Jorhat districts, he added.

On the other hand, five patients recovered and were discharged from different hospitals in the state, the minister said.

"Five patients have been discharged today after testing negative for #COVID19 twice. Three from Guwahati and two from Jorhat medical college. Best wishes," he tweeted.

Sarma said mostly returnees have tested positive for coronavirus.

"It is clarified that all swabs are collected from people soon after they arrive from outstation. Subsequently they are transferred to the quarantine centres. Therefore, most of the positive cases in Assam are imported and not home- grown!" he said in a tweet.

Of the total 514 cases, four patients have died due to the deadly disease, while 62 have been cured, Sarma said.

Besides, three patients have migrated to other states, the minister said.

After inter-state movement through road and rail networks was allowed during the lockdown period, Assam saw a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases.

With domestic flight operations resuming from Monday, the health officials are expecting this spike to be even more sharper in coming days.

To screen all the people coming from outside the state by road and rail network, the government has set up five zonal screening camps besides those already existing at the district headquarters and local levels.

Kokrajhar has the zonal screening camp for Lower Assam districts, Tezpur for North Assam districts, Jorhat for Upper Assam districts, Guwahati for Central Assam districts and Silchar for Barak Valley districts.

A total of 66,444 samples have been tested for COVID-19 in seven laboratories in Assam and NIV in Pune, the state Health and Family Welfare Department said in its daily bulletin on Sunday night.