Guwahati, July 20 (PTI): Assam breached the 25,000-mark in COVID-19 cases with 1,093 fresh cases reported on Monday, while one more person died due to the disease in the state, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
The state, at present, has 7,936 active coronavirus patients, who are being treated in different hospitals and COVID care centres, he said on Twitter.
"Alert ~ 1093 new #COVID19 ve+ patients in Assam today with 448 cases from Guwahati City. With 20000+ tests carried out today, our daily positivity rate is only 5%," the minister tweeted.
With the latest numbers, Assam has reported a total of 25,092 cases of COVID-19, of which, 11,528 have been reported from the state capital alone.
Meanwhile, BJP MLA Atul Bora from Dispur constituency in the capital city became the fifth legislator of the ruling party to test positive for COVID-19 in the state on Monday, officials said.
A police official died due to COVID-19, the second person from the 70,000-strong force to succumb to the virus.
"We are saddened to inform that NK Rajesh Narzary, 9th APBn, who was battling #Covid19, made the supreme sacrifice today. Our deepest condolences are with the family and colleagues of NK Rajesh Narzary," the Assam Police tweeted.
With this, the total number of persons losing their lives due to COVID-19 in the state has gone up to 58.
However, five more COVID-19 patients have died, but the government''s Death Audit Board has not included them in the tally of deaths caused by the COVID-19 virus as they had other ailments also.
Meanwhile, 1,072 patients recovered and were released from different hospitals and COVID care centres across the state on Monday, Sarma said in another tweet.
"With sincere efforts of doctors & teams, our recovery rate has bounced back from a low of about 20% to 71%+ today," he added.
With these, 17,095 persons have so far recovered and discharged, while 7,936 active COVID-19 patients are being treated at present.
The health and family welfare department, in its media bulletin, said the doubling rate of the cases has marginally increased to 13.6 days with 23,999 cases on July 19 and 11,736 cases on July 5.
The state has so far tested a total of 6,71,191 samples for COVID-19 across 14 government-run laboratories and a few outsourced centres.
"@assampolice 912 personnel have tested positive till date out of whom 531 have recovered. We’ve unfortunately lost two colleagues till date. 884 Cops are under quarantine while 64 have rejoined duty," Assam Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) G P Singh tweeted.
In Kokrajhar jail, four police personnel and one inmate have been tested positive, said Pranjal Das, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Kokrajhar district.
The Jorhat KG Nurshing Home, situated on Jail Road, has been sealed after eight staff members of the private hospital tested positive for the disease on Monday.
As four doctors and three staff of Nalbari Swahid Mukunda Kakati COVID hospital tested positive, Joint Director of Health Services Umesh Phantcho declared the hospital as a containment zone for three days with immediate effect.
