Assam tally at 1,672 with 111 cases; DRL authorised as testing centre
GUWAHATI: As many as 111 more people tested positive for Covid-19 in Assam on Wednesday, taking the total number of cases in the state to 1,672, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
While 51 new Covid-19 cases were detected in the afternoon, 60 people tested positive for the disease in the morning, the minister said. The fresh cases were reported from Dhubri, Darrang, Karimganj, Sonitpur, Lakhimpur, Golaghat and Nagaon districts. Dhubri accounted for 66 of the 111 fresh cases reported during the day, Sarma said.
There are 1,328 active cases in Assam. While 337 people have recovered, four died and three migrated out of the state, he said.
A total of 53 patients were discharged from hospitals on Tuesday after they recovered from the disease, he added. A repatriation flight carrying 37 passengers from Russia under the Vande Bharat Mission landed at the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati past midnight, an Airport Authority of India spokesperson said. Earlier, 30 of the 155 passengers brought to Assam on a repatriation flight from Kuwait on May 29 had tested positive for Covid-19. Altogether, 64 air travellers have tested positive for the disease so far since the resumption of flight operations on May 25.
Meanwhile, the Defence Research and Development Organisation ( DRDO) has approved the Defence Research Laboratory (DRL), Tezpur, as an authorised Covid-19 testing centre. Assam has seven laboratories where samples are being tested and the DRL will be the eighth testing facility. Some samples are also being sent to laboratories outside the state.
Sarma had said the state government’s aim will be to reduce institutional quarantine and increase sample testing.