Another new COVID-19 case in Assam, total rises to 25

Another person tested positive for COVID-19 in Assam on Saturday, taking the total number of coronavirus cases in the state to 25, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. The new COVID-19 case was reported from North Lakhimpur district and the person had attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in New Delhi, the minister tweeted.

All the positive patients in the state, except one, are linked to the religious congregation in Delhi's Nizamuddin West last month, he said. Sarma again appealed to all those who attended the Jamaat congregation at Nizamuddin from the state to call the helpline number 104 or contact health workers so that their samples can be tested and their contacts traced.

The first COVID-19 case in the state not related to the Nizamuddin event and was reported from Guwahati, which falls under Kamrup (Metro) district and the patient, a resident of a high-end apartment, had travelled to Delhi recently, a district official said. Eight cases were reported on Friday.

Besides the Guwahati patient, three other positive cases were reported from Kamrup, Morigaon and Golaghat. Three persons in Nalbari, who had come from Uttar Pradesh after attending the Jamaat congregation to visit mosques in the state, and one in South Salmara, an Imam of a mosque in Hatsingimari also tested positive for COVID-19.

Golaghat district reported the highest of nine positive cases, Goalpara three, and Silchar one. Four cases were confirmed in Guwahati Medical College Hospital (GMCH) on April one and one among them had come from Uttar Pradesh. The patients are being treated at GMCH, Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital and Sonapur District Hospital here, Golaghat Civil Hospital, Goalpara Civil Hospital and Silchar Hospital. The Health minister said that the condition of the patients was stable. Besides the treatment for COVID-19, the patients are also being counselled.

"The patients have been provided with a mobile phone and a psychiatrist is counselling them via video call," Sarma said.

The patients are being given nutritious food which "many are not able to get now due to the lockdown. Many of the patients had asked for clocks to know the time for Namaaz which they were given and they are offering prayers in the isolation wards", the minister said.

"We are doing our utmost to ensure the physical well- being of the patients who have tested positive so far," the minister added.