8 More Covid-19 Patients Discharged From Assam Hospital, Total Recovered Cases Stand at 27

Guwahati: Eight more COVID-19 patients have been discharged from hospital on Sunday, taking the total number of coronavirus recovered persons in Assam to 27, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

Four patients were released from Golaghat Civil Hospital and four others from Guwahati's Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital, the minister said at a press conference here.

Assam so far has 35 COVID-19 positive cases of which 27 have been discharged and one patient has died.

"Now there are only seven active cases in the state with 27 discharged and one dead. We expect to release some more patients by April 30", he said.

The recovery rate in Assam so far is 77 per cent which is "quite good", the minister said.

The first COVID-19 case in the state, who is a cancer patient, however, is still showing positive in repeated tests and is still undergoing treatment at the Silchar Medical College Hospital, Sarma said.

The state has conducted 7,616 sample tests so far in the six laboratories in the state and of these 35 tested positive and 209 results are still awaited with the remaining being negative.

Guwahati Medical College Hospital tested 3,655 samples followed by 1,396 at Assam Medical College and Hospital, Dibrugarh and 1,047 at Fakhruddin Ahmed Medical College Hospital, Barpeta.

Random sample tests are being done in three places of Dhubri town, Chapor and Bilasipara of Dhubri district from Sunday to find out scientifically if people outside quarantine facilities have been infected or not, he said.

"Assam's success story is that after the primary cases related to Tablighi Jamaat tested positive, we were able to trace and quarantine all their contacts. The later cases in the state were all from quarantine facilities and now we have to find out scientifically about the situation outside the facilities", the minister said.

The tests will be conducted with swab samples of people taken randomly, he said.

The state also has 9,600 Rapid Test Kits and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has allowed tests with these kits for surveillance purpose, Sarma said.

There are 2.70 lakh PPE kits, 53,000 N95 masks and 46 lakh triple layer masks available in the state, the minister added.