Assam Records Over 1 Lakh Coronavirus Cases, 10th State To Cross Mark

Assam crossed the one lakh coronavirus cases mark on Friday night, with 2,560 new infections detected in 24 hours. Close to 300 deaths have been linked to the virus so far, with eight of those deaths reported yesterday.

Of the state's 1,01,367 Covid cases, 21,771 are active cases, while nearly 80,000 have been discharged from hospitals and medical facilities after receiving treatment.

Worried by the persistent surge in cases the state government has warned people of another lockdown if they do not adhere to guidelines.

"If people do not wear masks and the number of cases continues to spike upwards, the Government of Assam might be compelled to impose yet another lockdown. Although this is not a course we wish to take, if the numbers do not dip, we will be forced to take drastic measures yet again," Chief Secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna told reporters.

The northeastern state has reported a positivity rate of 6.38 per cent so far, which is slightly lower than the national average of around eight per cent.

However, it also has one of the highest recovery rates in the country (80.26 per cent) and lowest death rates (0.28 per cent). The corresponding national averages are around 76 per cent and 1.8 per cent, respectively.

The doubling rate in Assam, the worst-affected of the northeastern states, is 22 days and the state is currently testing at the rate of 61,000 per million, so far. Over 40,000 tests were conducted on Friday. According to news agency PTI, nearly 21.47 lakh samples have been tested for COVID-19 so far.

Earlier this week former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, 85, said he too had tested positive for the virus. 

The veteran Congress leader had been travelling extensively over the past few days to strengthen the party base ahead of state elections. Mr Gogoi was travelling with former state minister Ajanta Neog, who has also tested positive.

Among other prominent political leaders who have tested positive in Assam are the BJP Rajya Sabha MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa and former Congress Lok Sabha MP Sushmita Dev.

Of the 13 state legislators who have tested positive, seven are from BJP, three are from the Congress, two from the AGP and one from the AIUDF.

The first Covid case in the state was detected on March 31 and it has taken 150 days to cross the one lakh-mark.

Across India the number of coronavirus cases is nearly 34 lakh, of which around 61,500 are deaths linked to the virus and 7.42 lakh are active cases.

With input from PTI