936 new COVID-19 cases in Assam; eight more die

Guwahati, Jul 10 () Eight more people, including a policeman, died due to COVID-19 in Assam on Friday, while the state's infection tally crossed 15,000-mark with 936 more people testing positive, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

The new fatalities pushed the death toll to 35. The state has seen 21 coronavirus deaths in the last four days. The total number of cases now stand at 15,536, including 6,221 in Guwahati city alone.

While seven patients succumbed to the infection at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, one died at the COVID-19 centre set up at the IIT, Guwahati on the northern bank of the capital city, Sarma said in a series of tweets.

The policeman was first from the force in Assam who died due to COVID-19 virus. Assam Director General of Police Bhaskar Jyot Mahanta expressed condolences to the family of the deceased personnel.

"With a heavy heart, we are saddened to inform that Hav. Hareswar Nath, 16 IRBn, who tested positive for #CoronaVirus on July 7, 2020 passed away today. Our deepest condolences are with the bereaved family and colleagues," the Assam Police tweeted.

Sarma said the state has reported 936 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, including 521 from the state capital.

The state has 5,650 active cases, he said in a tweet.

In a separate tweet, Sarma said 701 patients have recovered from the disease and were discharged from various hospitals across the state during the day.

So far, 9,848 people have been cured and were discharged from hospitals, while three more patients have migrated to other states, he added.

The Guwahati city reported a total of 6,221 COVID-19 cases so far, of whom 5,778 people tested positive in the last 17 days since June 24.

Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) G P Singh said on Twitter that a total of 431 personnel of force have tested positive till date, out of whom 165 have recovered.

The state has so far tested 5,25,485 samples for COVID-19 across 14 government-run laboratories and a few outsourced centres, the daily bulletin of the Assam Health and Family Welfare Department said.

It further said that the doubling rate of positive cases has come down to 11.7 days on July 9 at 14,600 cases from 15.7, days on June 27, when there were 7,165 cases.

In an official statement, the Hailakandi district Spokesperson said four more employees of the Deputy Commissioner's Office tested positive, taking the total number of affected staff to eight, including an Additional Deputy Commissioner.

Health Department officials of Dhubri district said nine fresh COVID-19 cases were reported, of which three belong to the central paramilitary force and two are from the State Fire and Emergency Services. TR CK