COVID-19: Four more deaths, 1,178 new cases take Assam's tally near 43,000 mark; Congress MLA tests positive

Two women from Karimganj and Tinsukia and a couple of men from Jorhat and Kamrup Metropolitan districts died due to COVID-19.
People maintain social distancing as they wait outside grocery shops during total lockdown imposed by the Assam Government to curb the spread of coronavirus in Guwahati Monday July 6 2020. (Photo | PT
People maintain social distancing as they wait outside grocery shops during total lockdown imposed by the Assam Government to curb the spread of coronavirus in Guwahati Monday July 6 2020. (Photo | PT

GUWAHATI: Four more persons succumbed to COVID-19 in Assam on Sunday taking the death toll to 105, while 1,178 new positive cases pushed the states tally to 42,904, Health and Family Welfare Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

Two women from Karimganj and Tinsukia and a couple of men from Jorhat and Kamrup Metropolitan districts died due to COVID-19.

"Four more #COVID19 patients have succumbed to their infections today. Condolences to their families. Prayers", the minister tweeted.

The state reported 1,178 new cases out of 19,943 tests, with Kamrup Metropolitan district recording the highest of 268 infections.

"We have been able to maintain a low positivity rate consistently (today- 5.91 per cent)", Sarma said in the tweet.

Meanwhile, 942 patients were discharged from different hospitals of the state and many of them would be able to celebrate Raksha Bandhan on Monday, he said.

Of the total 42,904 cases, 105 people have died, 10,412 are active cases, 33,384 have recovered from the disease and three migrated out of the state.

The health minister said that Assam has the lowest mortality rate of 0.24 per cent in the country.

In the case of recovery, it is in the fourth position with a rate of 75 per cent, while the state is ranked fifth in the number of tests per million with a figure of 27,544.

"We work for a larger goal of humanity and not for a Model. Our commitment to fighting the pandemic is robust", Sarma tweeted.

A total of 9,64,449 samples have been so far tested across the state.

In Assam police, 1,701 personnel have tested positive for the virus so far and four have them have died, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) G P Singh said.

Sarma formally inaugurated the second plasma bank in the state at Tezpur Medical College Hospital on Sunday.

The facility had become functional on Friday with one person donating his plasma.

Meanwhile, Congress' Rakibul Hussain on Sunday became the seventh legislator in Assam to contract coronavirus infection.

Hussain, the MLA from Samaguri in Central Assam and a former state minister, said in a Facebook post that he tested positive for the virus along with his wife Nazreen Hussain.

His son, however, tested negative.

"I have tested COVID-19 positive. Request everyone who came in contact with me in the last four days to get themselves tested," he said in the post.

The former minister is the first Congress legislator to have been diagnosed with COVID-19.

Another prominent politician of the party, All India Mahila Congress president and former Silchar MP Sushmita Dev, had earlier tested positive for the virus.

All the other MLAs of the state, who had tested positive for COVID-19, were from the BJP.

They are Assembly Deputy Speaker Aminul Haque Laskar, Atul Bora, Krishnendu Paul, Naryan Deka, Bolin Chetia and Nabanita Handique

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