Highest single-day spike of 1,680 Covid-19 cases in Assam; infection tally reaches 26,772

Assam recorded the highest single-day spike of 1,680 Covid-19 cases on Tuesday as the state crossed the 26,000 mark, Minister for Health and Family Welfare Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

The state also saw six more deaths due to the infection, he said.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the state reached 26,772, while the death toll increased to 64.

The 1,680 fresh cases include 570 from Guwahati, 167 from Jorhat and 159 from Cachar, the minister said.

Read: Coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases, deaths on July 22

The previous highest single-day spike of 1,218 cases in the northeastern state was reported on July 17.

"1680 new #Covid-19 patients detected in Assam on July 21. Guwahati reported 570 cases. (Jorhat 167, Cachar 159). With 18,152 tests carried out in 24 hours, our positivity rate is 9.2 percent,” Sarma said.

Among the six dead, four are women, and two each are from Kamrup Metropolitan and Kamrup Rural along with one each from Darrang and Dibrugarh districts.

The death rate in the state is currently 0.26 percent.

The minister said 938 patients have been discharged from various hospitals in the state on Tuesday, taking the total number of those cured to 18,033.

He also said that the recovery rate has increased to 71.87 percent.

"938 patients have been discharged today. Patients returning home healthy are our beacon of hope,” the minister tweeted.

Of the 26,772 positive cases, 8,672 are active cases, 64 have died and three have migrated out of the state, he said.

Meanwhile, jailed JNU student Sharjeel Imam, lodged in the Guwahati Central Jail for his alleged involvement in anti-CAA protests, tested Covid-19 positive on Tuesday, a jail official said.

Imam's swab samples along with other inmates were tested earlier and the results came today, Inspector General (Prisons) Dasarath Das said.

He was earlier scheduled to be taken to Delhi but now would be shifted to a hospital here for treatment.

Imam, who was active in the Shaheen Bagh protests, was booked under sedition laws.

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He was brought to Guwahati in January for interrogation and has been lodged in Guwahati Central Jail since then.

Das said 435 inmates of the Jail have so far tested positive and these include peasant leader Akhil Gogoi and his two associates along with NDFB Chief Ranjan Daimary.

Meanwhile, 948 Assam police personnel have tested positive for coronavirus till date, out of whom, 599 have recovered and two have died, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) G P Singh said.

The minister said with the unlockdown, "we expect cases to increase at an average of 90 to 1,000 daily and reach a peak by September 15 following which a decline in the number of cases is expected.”

He said efforts were on to create 10,000 additional beds to accommodate new patients and "we hope to complete it by the first week of August".

The total number of samples tested in the state so far is 6,89,343.