Assam sees highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases

An elderly man walks to a market to sell bamboo baskets, during ongoing COVID-19 lockdown at Baganpara in Baksa district of Assam. (PTI photo)

Assam witnessed the highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases with 39 people, including a two-month-old baby, testing positive for coronavirus on Tuesday, taking the tally to 154, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

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Of these new patients, at least 34 were in different quarantine centres across the state, he said.

"Alert-13 new #COVID + cases detected from Sarusajai Quarantine Centre. Now the total patient count goes to 154," Sarma tweeted.

The minister, in another tweet, said, "Alert- 6 new #COVID + cases confirmed. Out of the 3 from Guwahati, 2 are related to a cancer patient who lost his life at GMCH (wife and daughter). 2 patients are from Karimganj and one from Sarusajai quarantine centre (sic)."

He requested people to stay at home and follow social distancing and hygiene norms in view of the rising number of COVID-19 cases.

Earlier in the day, Sarma said 20 people tested positive for coronavirus in the state.

Also Read: Coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases

Of these patients, seven were from Kamrup, two each from Hojai, Biswanath, Nalbari, Jorhat, Golaghat and Nagaon and one from Kokrajhar, he said.

All these 20 people had recently returned to the state and were in quarantine centres across districts, he said.

The total number of active cases now stands at 107, while 41 people have recovered from the disease, Sarma said, adding that four people have died of COVID-19.

Besides, two more have migrated to other states, the minister said.

In a separate tweet, Sarma said that one of the patients, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday night, went missing and was caught by police later.

"The alert personnel of @GuwahatiPol traced Jitendra Patil, one patient out of 6 who had gone missing, and he is also being shifted to MMCH (Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital)," he added.

A total of 37,898 samples have been tested in seven laboratories in Assam and National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune, the Health and Family Welfare Department said in its daily bulletin on Monday night.

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