Doctor dies due to COVID in Assam; tally climbs to 19,754, death toll to 48

Two persons have died of COVID-19 and 1,099 fresh cases were reported on Wednesday in Assam where the total number of positive cases reached 19,754, Minister for Health and Family Welfare Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

A 75-year-old doctor, hailing from Tinsukia, died at the Assam Medical College in Dibrugarh while the other victim is a 45-year-old woman from Kamrup Metropolitan district.

The Death Audit Board has confirmed that both the deaths occurred due to the underlying cause of COVID-19, taking the death toll to 48 in the state.

The doctor from Tinsukia is the second fatality in the medical fraternity in the state due to the viral infection. A 56-year-old doctor, an Associate Professor in the Department of Opthalmology of Gauhati Medical College Hospital, had died on Monday.

The state has reported 1,099 new cases and out of these 649 are from Guwahati city alone, the minister tweeted.

The total number of cases in Guwahati city has reached 8,307.

The 14-day lockdown imposed from June 28 in Kamrup Metropolitan district, under which Guwahati falls, was extended from 6 PM on Sunday by a week till July 19.

Meanwhile, 715 patients were discharged from various hospitals in the state, taking the total number of people who have recovered to 12,888, the minister said.

The total number of positive patients in the state has increased to 19,754 and out of these 6,815 are active cases, 12,888 have recovered, 48 have died and three migrated out of the state.

Sarma visited the Guwahati Central Jail, where 56 inmates have tested positive, on Wednesday and instructed officials to ensure best medical care, food and other facilities.

"After learning of the spread of#COVID19 in Central Jail, Guwahati I along with health department officials visited the site and reviewed the medical and other facilities," the minister tweeted.

The Kokrajhar district administration has also started random swab sampling of prisoners and jail staff from Wednesday to check spread of COVID-19 in Kokrajhar jail, Additional Deputy Commissioner Pranjal Das said.

Random swab sampling of all the 326 male and female jail inmates and staff of Kokrajhar jail will be done in a phased manner and they have been kept in isolation till collection of their reports.

The minister held a video conference with Principals and Superintendents of the seven medical colleges in the state.

"Discussed various clinical protocols which include treatment of positive patients, organisation of plasma bank, laboratory functioning status and establishment of Covid Care Centres," the minister tweeted.

He also held a video conference with the Deputy Commissioners, Medical Superintendents and doctors to review the current COVID-9 situation in the state.

"Among others, we analysed the threat perception and discussed if the containment measures are being adhered to in the right spirit," he said.

Altogerher 654 police personnel have tested positive in the state till date out of whom one died and 287 have recovered, while 17 cops have rejoined duty after recovery, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) G P Singh said.



The state has so far tested 5,89,202 samples in 13 government labs, 31 ward screening centres and a few outsourced laboratories, according to the daily bulletin issued by the state health department.

The number of persons in institutional quarantine facilities in the state is at present 12,714 and 1,41,850 are now under home quarantine tracking.