Assam reports 48 new Covid-19 positive cases; overall tally doubles in three days

Assam reported 48 new coronavirus disease (Covid-19) positive cases on Thursday, as the north-east’s most-populous state’s overall tally rose to 832 and doubled in only three days.

The return of around one lakh stranded people to the state since the easing of nationwide lockdown restrictions, which were imposed between March 25 and May 3 to contain the spread of the pandemic, and lifting the ban on intra-state travel is being attributed to the spike in Covid-19 positive cases.

State health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that over 90% of Covid-19 positive cases detected in the past three weeks are among those patients, who returned to Assam from other states.

Assam recorded its first Covid-19 positive case on March 31, when a 52-year-old cancer patient contracted SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease. It took another 37 days for the figure to reach 50 on May 7 and in 10 days to double to cross 100 on May 17. In another four days on May 21, the figure doubled to go past 200 and crossed over 400 in four more days on May 25.

Of the total Covid-19 positive cases, nearly 700 patients have returned to the state by road or train since May 4. A passenger tested Covid-19 positive after travelling by air from Ahmedabad to Guwahati earlier this week since the resumption of flight services on May 25. Domestic air travel

was suspended from March 25 due to the imposition of nationwide lockdown restrictions.

Recovered patient tests Covid-19 positive

Healthcare officials in Assam are at a loss after a woman cancer patient, who had recovered from Covid-19 earlier in May, tested positive for the disease on Wednesday again.

The woman, a resident of Upper Assam’s Golaghat district, had contracted the disease in Delhi during treatment for cancer in the national capital. Her husband and an acquaintance, who had accompanied her, had also tested Covid-19 positive. While her husband succumbed to the disease and was cremated in Delhi, the woman and her acquaintance recovered and returned to Assam on May 22.

She was put under quarantine in a government-run lodge on the outskirts of Kaziranga, as per the state government’s guidelines. However, on Wednesday, she tested Covid-19 positive again. She has been shifted to the Jorhat Medical College (JMC) for treatment.

“Her case could be one of false positive. At times, tests give false results. Similar instances have been reported from other states and countries. We have sent the patient’s test results to the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) and are waiting for the report,” minister Sarma said.