95 new COVID-19 cases in Assam, tally rises to 4,605

Assam reported 95 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, taking the state's total tally to 4,605, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

Of the fresh cases, 21 are from Jorhat, 20 from Golaghat, 12 from Hailakandi, six each from Kamrup and Dibrugarh, seven from Karbi Anglong, four each from Dhemaji, Barpeta, Cachar, three from Bongaigaon, two each from Nagaon and Udalguri and one each from Dima Hasao and Sonitpur, while the location of two are yet to ascertained, he said.

The minister said 231 patients were discharged from hospitals on Wednesday, taking the total number of those discharged to 2,642 which is higher than the number of active cases. The recovery rate in the state has climbed to 57 per cent, he said.

The number of active cases stood at 1,953 while three persons have migrated out of the state. The state has so far reported eight deaths, he said.

A second testing laboratory at the Guwahati Medical College Hospital (GMCH), the twelfth in the state, was inaugurated on Wednesday. The new VRDL lab with bio-safety cabinet has a capacity of conducting 400-500 tests daily, Sarma said.

The minister also inaugurated a Digital Mammography Radiology Dept at GMCH.

Also, Assam Targeted Surveillance Program (ATSP) was launched, Sarma said and termed it a crucial step towards combating COVID-19 effectively.

"We aim to conduct more than 50,000 random testings in a week's time, targeting vulnerable areas", the minister said.

Under ATSP, swab samples of people working in locations such as truck parking areas, loading and unloading centres, godowns, weighbridges and dhabas will be collected and tested.

The staff of hotels used as institutional quarantine will also be tested along with frontline officials like police personnel, Sarma said.

ATSP will also cover the family members and co-residents of homes of people who have been released from the institutional quarantine, he said.

The health minister visited the Pandu FRU hospital here to monitor COVID-19 testing and said the future course of action for containment of the pandemic in Guwahati shall be based on these test results.

The entire exercise was expected to be finished by June 27 and shall involve the deputy commissioners of each district who will ensure availability of adequate facilities, Sarma said.

The state has so far tested 2,35,214 swab samples.  

Sarma also launched the affordable and sterile Viral Transport Media (VTM) kits, RT-PCR kits and RNA isolation kits developed by the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati.

He congratulated the IIT faculty for developing the kits and said, "We want to identify and contain this disease at an early stage and it is vital that we have all the crucial kits and materials so that our frontline healthcare workers and doctors who are doing a commendable job do not face any hurdle."

IIT, Guwahati, Director T G Sitharam said the institute has been at the forefront in the battle against COVID-19 and is supporting the Assam government in the fight.

The institute received the request to provide VTM kits from the National Health Mission director and "we immediately acted upon this request and began production of these sterile and affordable kits. The first batch has already been delivered to GMCH", he said.