Guwahati, Jun 18 () One more COVID-19 fatality was reported in Assam, taking the coronavirus death toll in the state to nine while 166 people including 25 from an army camp, tested positive pushing the tally to 4,861 on Thursday, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
One person died in Diphu Medical College and Hospital and this is the second death from Karbi Anglong district.
Of the nine deaths reported so far, three are cancer patients.
Eighty-four people tested positive for COVID-19 in the night while 82 others were detected during the day, the minister said.
Of the 84 cases reported during the night, 25 are from Misamari Military Camp in Sonitpur district, 16 from Kamrup (M), 14 from Hailakandi, 13 from Karimganj, eight from Tezpur, five from Nagaon, two from Lakhimpur and one from Golaghat
Among the patients detected during the day, 22 are from Baksa, 14 from Karbi Anglong, 11 from Chirang, 9 from Dibrugarh, seven from Dhubri, five from Golaghat, two each from Sibsagar, Nagaon, Barpeta and Kamrup(M) and one each from Bishwanath, Nalbari, Charaideo, Tinsukia, Kokrajhar and Dhemaji, the minister said.
Meanwhile, 194 patients were discharged from various civil, district and model hospitals after they tested negative for COVID-19.
The state's recovery rate has also improved to over 58 per cent with the number of discharged people reaching 2,848, higher than the number of active cases, Sarma said.
Of the total 4,861 cases, nine people have died so far and there are 2,001 active cases while three persons have migrated out, he said.
More than 11,000 tests were conducted on Thursday in 12 laboratories in the state with the total samples tested so far reaching 2,46,590.
"We are pursuing the strategy of active tracing and testing in our bid to contain any further spread of coronavirus", the minister said.
The Assam Targeted Surveillance Program (ATSP), aiming to cover more than 50,000 random tests in a week, continued for the second day on Thursday.
"We aim to conduct more than 50,000 random testings in a week's time, targeting vulnerable areas", he said.
Under ATSP, samples of people working in locations such as truck parking places, loading and unloading centres, godown areas, weigh bridges, dhabas will be collected and tested.
Staff of hotels used as institutional quarantine will also be tested along with frontline officials like police personnel, the minister said.
ATSP will also cover the family members/co-residents of homes of persons who have been released from the institutional quarantine, he added.
The minister said the future course of action for containment of the pandemic in Guwahati shall be based on these test results.
In order to facilitate people to get themselves tested, in case required, without having to visit hospitals, some facilities have been identified by the health department where swab collection for COVID-19 will be done free of cost, Sarma added. DG RG CK