Assam records four more COVID-19 deaths, 1,348 new cases

Assam recorded four more COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, taking the toll to 92 as 1,348 new cases of the infection pushed the tally in the state to 36,295, Minister for Health and Family Welfare Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

An 85-year-old doctor and a 40-year-old woman in Jorhat, a 77-year-old woman in Tinsukia and a 78-year-old man in Cachar died during the day.

"Very sad to share that four more #COVID patients have lost their battle against pandemic today. May God help their families to bear this pain," the minister tweeted.

The new cases include 348 from Kamrup Metropolitan district and 127 from Kamrup Rural, he said.

In another tweet, the minister said, "1348 new #COVID cases detected in Assam out of 18941 tests done in last 24 hrs. The positivity rate is at a low of 7.11 per cent."

Meanwhile, 1,214 patients have recovered and were discharged from various hospitals on Wednesday.

"Happy to share that our recovery rate is 76.77 per cent, purely a result of dedication and selfless service of our doctors," he said in a tweet.

Of the total 36,295 cases, 92 have died, 8,368 are active, 27,832 were discharged after recovery and three migrated out of the state, the minister added.

As many as 1,337 Assam Police personnel have so far tested positive for the disease. Four of them have died and 1,009 have recovered, of which 245 have rejoined duty, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) G P Singh said.

Meanwhile, a COVID-positive prisoner, who has been charged with rape, escaped from the R N B Civil Hospital Kokrajhar on Tuesday night, Superintendent of Police Rakesh Roshan said.

The prisoner, identified as Sukla Murmu, was an inmate of the Kokrajhar Jail but was admitted to the hospital after he tested positive for COVID-19 a few days ago.

He escaped by breaking a window of the ward and police have launched a hunt to nab him.

The Assam government has decided to reduce the period of quarantine for passengers arriving from outside the state from 14 days to 10.

This will be inclusive of the days spent in institutional or hotel quarantine as well as home quarantine, according to an order issued by Health and Family Welfare department's Principal Secretary, Samir Sinha.

"If a passenger spends initial two days in a hotel or institutional quarantine, then he/she will spend the remaining eight days in home quarantine. Similarly, if any passenger directly proceeds for home quarantine, then he/she shall spend 10 days in home quarantine," the order stated.

If, however, in the meantime the RT-PCR test result of such passengers turns out to be positive, steps will be taken as per the standard procedure, the order added.

In case of patients discharged after testing negative, there shall be a mandatory seven-day home quarantine with active surveillance by health workers.