Assam reports 1,371 new COVID-19 cases; two more deaths

 Assam recorded 1,371 more COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, taking the total to 34,947 as two more people succumbed to the disease in the state, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. The state now has 8,238 active case of the infection, he tweeted.

"Alert ~ 1371 new #COVID cases detected in Assam out of 22876 tests done in last 24 hrs. Positivity rate continues to be low at 5.9%," Sarma said in a tweet. Out of the new cases, the highest number of 295 was reported in Kamrup Metropolitan district, which primarily comprises the Guwahati city, followed by 221 in Kamrup district, he said.

With the latest numbers, Assam has reported a total of 34,947 cases of COVID-19, of which 14,062 are from the state capital alone. A 70-year-old woman and a 50-year-old man died due to COVID-19 during the day, Sarma said in a separate tweet.

"Two more #COVID19 patients...have succumbed to their infections today. They both were from Kamrup Metro and admitted at GMCH, Guwahati. My prayers & condolences to their bereaved families," he said.

With this, the total number of deaths due to COVID-19 in the state has gone up to 88. Six more COVID-19 patients have died in the state but the government's Death Audit Board has not included them in the tally as they had other ailments.

Meanwhile, 1,216 more patients have recovered and they were discharged from different hospitals and COVID Care Centres across the state, the minister said in another tweet. "Yet another day, we have more than 1000 recovered patients. We shall overcome," he added.

With these, 26,618 persons have recovered so far. Sarma also informed that a 86-year-old man from Japorigog in Guwahati with co-morbidities defeated the novel coronavirus and was discharged from Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital after spending 12 days in the ICU.

The Health and Family Welfare Department, in its media bulletin, said the doubling rate of the cases has increased to 15 days. It further stated that the recovery rate of COVID-19 patients stands at 76.17 per cent, while the death rate is still very low at 0.25 per cent.

In a separate tweet, Sarma said the state has crossed the eight-lakh mark in total number of samples tested for the COVID-19 virus since the first test on February 7.

"My best appreciation for the hard work by Health Dept teams who continue their mission of tracking & tracing those who may be infected by #coronavirus. Today on July 28, our test figures crossed 8 lakh - 802,674 to be precise.

"Well done. Request all to come forward to test," he said.

The minister stated that the last one lakh tests were conducted in six days.

Assam Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) G P Singh tweeted that a total of 1,278 personnel from the force have tested positive till date, of whom 957 have recovered.

"207 have rejoined duty. We've unfortunately lost four colleagues till date," he added.