Assam breaches 500-mark in COVID-19 cases; 134 new infections

Assam recorded its highest single-day spike of 134 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 526 in the state, of which 457 are active cases, Sarma said in a tweet.

"Alert ~ 12 new cases of #COVID19+ reported. Swabs for testing taken before people sent for quarantine. 9 Lakhimpur, 3 Sivasagar," Sarma tweeted.

In a series of tweets earlier during the day, the minister said samples of 122 people from across the districts tested positive for coronavirus, highest being in Golaghat with 53 COVID-19 cases.

Karimganj district saw 21 positive cases, followed by eight each in Guwahati and Lakhimpur, six in Kokrajhar, five in Cachar, four each in Dhemaji and Hailakandi, three in South Salmara Mankachar, two each in Tinsukia, Sivasagar and Nalbari, and one each in Nagaon, Jorhat, Morigaon and Goalpara, he added.

Five patients recovered from COVID-19 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 most of the latest cases are returnees from outside the state.

"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 526 cases, four patients have died due to the deadly disease, while 62 have been discharged from hospitals after recovery, Sarma said.

Besides, three more patients have migrated to other states, he said.

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

With domestic flight operations resuming to Assam 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 networks, 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.

Assam has so far tested 66,444 samples for COVID-19 in seven laboratories in the state and NIV in Pune, the Health and Family Welfare Department said in its daily bulletin on Sunday night.