COVID-19 death toll in Assam rises to 9, tally climbs to 4,904

One more COVID-19 fatality was reported in Assam on Thursday, taking the death toll to nine, while the total tally of cases rose to 4,904 with 209 people, including 25 from an Army camp, testing positive for the viral infection, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

The fresh death was reported from Diphu Medical College and Hospital and this is the second COVID-19 fatality in Karbi Anglong district. Of the nine deaths reported so far, four were in the last week and three of them were cancer patients.

Meanwhile, 194 patients have been cured of the disease and discharged from various civil, district and model hospitals on Thursday. The state's recovery rate has improved to over 58 per cent as the total number of discharged patients reached 2,848, higher than the number of active cases, Sarma said.

There are 2,044 active cases in the state while three persons have migrated out, he said, adding over 11,000 tests were conducted on Thursday in 12 laboratories.

So far, 2,46,590 swab samples have been tested in the state for COVID-19, the health minister said.

"We are pursuing the strategy of active tracing and testing in our bid to contain any further spread of coronavirus," he said.

Meanwhile, the Assam Targeted Surveillance Program (ATSP), aiming to conduct more than 50,000 random tests during a week, continued for the second day on Thursday.

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

Under ATSP, swab samples of people working in locations such as truck parking areas, loading and unloading centres, godowns, weigh bridges, dhabas will be collected and tested. 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 persons who have been released from the institutional quarantine, he said, adding the future course of action for containment of the pandemic in Guwahati will be based on these test results.

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

In order to facilitate people to get themselves tested without having to visit hospitals, some facilities have been identified by the health department where collection of swab samples would be done free of cost, Sarma added.