COVID-19 worry grows in Assam after four without travel history tests positive

Four persons including a woman having no travel history tested COVID-19 positive in Assam on Thursday increasing the health officials' worry in the state.

Confirming the four new positive cases in western Assam's Bongaigaon district, health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told reporters that it was a cause of worry as this was for the first time in the state that persons having no travel history tested COVID-19 positive.

"Out of the three, one lives near a government hospital, where a person who tested positive earlier visited. But we don't have information so far about three others coming into contact with any such COVID-19 positive persons. This proves that coronavirus is active in Assam and anyone can get infected by it if we don't maintain the safety norms prescribed by the government," Sarma said.

This took the total number of COVID-19 positive cases to 41, of which 27 have been released so far after recovery. One of them, however, succumbed to the virus.

Two more persons, including one from Bongaigaon district, tested positive on Wednesday. The duo, however, were in-home quarantined and had come in contact with persons, who returned from the Nizamuddin congregation.

Following the new cases, the state health department asked the Bongaigaon district administration to declare three-kilometer radius of their residences as a containment zone. The district was also put into the list of COVID-19 'Red Zone'. Three other districts, Morigaon, Dhubri and Goalpara are in the list at present.

Sarma said the health department, however, decided to remove Nalbari and Golaghat districts from the list of 'Red Zones' as no new COVID-19 positive cases were detected in the past 28-days.