With 2,679 fresh cases, Assam's Covid-19 tally crosses 55k; 6 more deaths

The number of Covid-19 cases in Assam crossed the 55,000-mark with 2,679 people testing positive on Friday, while six more patients died due to the disease that took the total death toll to 132, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. The state at present has 16,552 active coronavirus cases.

The patients are being treated in different hospitals and Covid Care Centres (CCC) across the state, Sarma tweeted. "Alert ~ 2679 Covid cases detected out of 58531 tests in last 24 hrs. Positivity rate continues to be low at 4.57%," he added. Of the new patients, the maximum number of 442 cases were reported from Kamrup Metropolitan district, which primarily comprises the Guwahati city, followed by 265 cases in Kamrup, 250 in Cachar and 172 in Nagaon, Sarma said.

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With the latest numbers, Assam has reported a total of 55,496 cases of Covid-19, of which 17,755 are from the state capital alone. Assam BJP MLA Mihir Kanti Shome tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday, the eighth legislator to get infected by the novel coronavirus in the state. During the day, six more persons, including two women, died due to COVID-19 in Assam, Sarma said in a separate tweet.

The deceased are from Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Dibrugarh, Cachar, Nagaon and Kamrup Metropolitan districts, Sarma tweeted. They included a 56-year-old woman from Kokrajhar and a 60-year-old woman from Dibrugarh, he added.

The others are a 57-year-old from Dhubri, and three senior citizens aged 61 years, 68 years and 69 years from Cachar, Nagaon and Kamrup Metropolitan respectively, Sarma said. With this, the total number of persons losing their lives due to Covid-19 in the state has gone up to 132. However, at least 10 more Covid-19 patients, including four police personnel, have died, but the government's Death Audit Board has not included them in the tally of deaths caused by the Covid-19 virus as they had other ailments too.

Meanwhile, 1,585 patients recovered and were released from different hospitals and CCCs across the state, the Minister informed the public in another tweet. "Feel good for all those who are back home. Kudos again to efforts of doctors and medical teams," he added. With these, 38,809 persons have recovered and were discharged, while 16,552 active Covid-19 patients are being treated at present.

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The Health and Family Welfare Department in its media bulletin said the doubling rate of the cases has increased to 16.3 days at 52,817 cases on August 6 from 13.9 days as on July 21, when there were 26,772 cases. It further stated that the recovery rate of Covid-19 patients stands at 69.9 per cent, while the death rate is still very low at 0.24 per cent. A total of 12,38,867 samples have been tested so far across the state in government-run laboratories and a few outsourced labs, the bulletin stated.

This figure translates into 36,126 sample tests out of every 10 lakh people in Assam, the Health and Family Welfare Department said. It also said a total of 131 people have donated their plasma for treatment of other Covid-19 patients in plasma banks set up across five medical college hospitals in the state.

Assam Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) G P Singh tweeted that a total of 2,154 personnel from the force have tested positive till date, out of whom 1,543 have recovered. Of them, 607 have joined the duty after recovery. "Unfortunately, we’ve lost six colleagues till date," he added.