Assam reports five more COVID-19 fatalities; death toll rises to 21

Assam reported five more COVID-19 fatalities on Wednesday, taking the state's death toll due to the disease to 21 while the total number of cases stood at 13,336, Health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

Four patients died at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) and one succumbed to the infection at Tezpur Medical College and Hospital (TMCH), he said.

All the four men who died at GMCH were aged above 60, with the oldest being 75. They were on invasive ventilation and had severe pneumonia, urosepsis and septic shock, the minister said.

"My heartfelt condolences to families and relatives of four more victims of #COVID19. These are trying times, and we all must adhere to guidelines being repeatedly given -- wearing mask, social distance and not going out unless very important," Sarma tweeted.

The patient who died at TMCH was a 30-year-old man from Majbat area in Udalguri district admitted to the hospital on July 7 with "features of septicaemia in shock with a history of herbal medication", he said.

"Condolences. So sad to see young lives being lost," Sarma said in another tweet. With the fresh deaths, the number of people succumbing to the infection in the last 24 hours has risen to seven. Two patients, including a woman, died on Tuesday.

The total number of cases has risen to 13,336 after 814 more people tested positive for the infection on Tuesday night. A total of 588 of the 814 new cases are from Guwahati city, which is under lockdown since June 28. A total of 4,479 cases have been reported in Guwahati since June 24.

The district administrations of Dhubri, Nagaon, Kokrajhar and Nalbari have restricted movement to and from Kamrup Metropolitan district, under which Guwahati falls, to prevent community transmission in other districts. Assam has tested 4,85,156 samples so far.

(Photo Credit: PTI)