GUWAHATI: The number of COVID-19 cases in Assam has gone past one lakh while the death toll is nearing the 300 mark.
The other states in the Northeast have also witnessed a spike in cases. Till Friday, 436 people in all have died of COVID-19 in the region.
Taking to Twitter on Friday night, Assam’s Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said there were 2,560 fresh cases, taking the state’s total tally to 1,01,367. The rate of positivity increased to 6.38%.
According to the state’s Health Department, 79,307 people have recovered so far. Currently, there are 21,771 active cases. Eight deaths on Friday took the toll to 286. Of the 2,560 cases recorded on the day, Kamrup (Metro), of which Guwahati is the district headquarters, accounted for 562, followed by Jorhat (167), Cachar (165), Dibrugarh (139) and Hailakandi (135).
Kamrup (Metro), Dibrugarh and Tinsukia in the Brahmaputra Valley and Cachar in the Barak Valley are the worst-affected districts. Till Friday, the state conducted over 21.47 lakh tests.
Alarmed by the rise in the number of cases, the state government has warned of another lockdown. It appealed to people to maintain the guidelines, including the use of masks and social distancing.
Meanwhile, Tripura recorded the most number of cases (10,763) and deaths (94) after Assam. The death tolls in Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur were seven and 27 respectively. So far, Arunachal recorded 1,029 cases and Manipur 5,843.
Similarly, ten deaths were recorded in Meghalaya and nine in Nagaland so far. The total number of cases recorded in Meghalaya and Nagaland were 2,230 and 3,796 respectively.
Mizoram is the only state in the Northeast, and perhaps the country, which has not yet recorded a COVID-19 fatality. It has recorded 1,003 cases so far, while there are now 489 active cases.