Assam may witness spike of 2000 COVID-19 cases per day in August, says Health Minister

Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on July 23^rd, 2020 said that the state may witness a massive spike in COVID-19 cases in August.

On July 22nd, 2020, the minister said that the state may witness a spike of 2000 cases per day.

“The government is relentlessly working to arrest the spread of COVID-19 in the state,” the minister said.

The minister inaugurated a COVID-19 testing laboratory at the Department of Molecular Biology of Government Ayurvedic College and Hospital in Guwahati on Thursday. The Krishna Diagnostic Laboratory is the 16^th laboratory in Assam to test COVID-19.

“The lab has been set up in a private-public partnership. It has the capability to conduct 4 thousand tests per day. I hope it will boost our testing abilities,” Dr. sarma said after inaugurating the laboratory.

Also read: Assam records 13th highest COVID-19 cases in India

He stated that the government has been looking forward to set up another laboratory at Sonapur Civil Hospital with public-private model.

Meanwhile, Minister of state for Health and Family Welfare Pijsuh Hazarika inaugurated a new COVID-19 care centre at Mangaldoi under Darrang district on Thursday. The centre consists of 180 beds.

Minister Hazarika also visited Mangaldoi Civil Hospital to review facilities to deal with COVID-19 situation.

He was accompanied by Sipajhar MLA Binanda Kumar Saikia, Mangaldoi MLA Gurujyoti Das and deputy commissioner (DC) of Darrang.

Assam has registered 13^th highest COVID-19 cases among the states in India. It has recorded 27,744 confirmed COVID-19 cases so far, state Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma informed.

Assam is trailing by Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal, Telengana, Rajasthan, Bihar and Haryana.

The state reported 972 new COVID-19 cases on July 22^nd, 2020; of which, 354 cases were reported in Kamrup (Metro) alone.

Of the total 27,744 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 8325 are active and 19,350 have been cured and discharged so far while the death toll climbed up to 66.

Two more deaths were reported on July 22^nd, 2020. The deceased are Alok Ghosh (54) of Jorhat and Haren Boron (47) of Kamrup (Metro.

The COVID-19 positivity rate in Assam was 5 percent on July 20^th, 2020 and increased to 9.2 percent on July 21^st, 2020, the state Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma informed.

The state crossed 20,000 mark in COVID-19 cases on July 16^th, 2020 while crossed the 1000-mark in 60 days. It reported the first case on March 31st, 2020.

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