Assam's coronavirus infection tally reaches 3 900 with 207 new cases

(Eds: Updating figures)
     Guwahati, Jun 13 (PTI) Assam's coronavirus infection tally reached 3,900 with 207 new cases on Saturday, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
     Of the total 3,900 positive cases in the state, eight persons have died so far, including four this week.
     The number of active cases is 2,084, while 1,805 have been cured and three persons have migrated, the minister said.
     Among the 207 cases detected on Saturday, 182 were reported late in the night and 25 others during the day, he said.
     The minister, while addressing a press conference in the evening, said that the number of positive cases was expected to rise further with trains from Kerala and Karnataka bringing in more people to the state next week.
     Nearly 25,000 people from Kerala are expected to come in the next few weeks and two trains are scheduled from Bengaluru, he said.
     "After this bulk arrival, there may be further increase in the number of positive cases, but maybe it will not be as much as those who came from Maharashtra and Delhi," the minister said.
     He said that so far 1,73,156 people have returned to the state -- 68,630 by train, 65,156 by road and 39,730 by flights.
     The state has reported a surge in the number of coronavirus cases since inter-state movement was allowed with the bulk of the positive cases detected so far having a travel history.
     The highest number of 285 cases were reported on June 4, followed by 269 on June 3 and 263 June 12, he said.
The recovery rate of the positive patients have also increased remarkably from 10 per cent last week to 47.98 per cent on Saturday.
     The Assam health department, meanwhile, will conduct 50,000 random tests in Guwahati city following the recent spike in COVID-19 positive cases and the state government may consider imposing a lockdown if a sizeable number of new cases are detected, the minister said.
     Guwahati city, considered the Gateway to the North East, has so far reported 176 positive cases and out of these 25 persons are from the community with no travel history.
     "The situation in Guwahati is a matter of particular concern and we have been analysing the situation to find out a reason for cases from the community and ways to break the chain," he said.
     In the next 15 days, "we will conduct 50,000 tests to break the chain and if we find that there is a sizeable number of positive cases, then the government may take measures to impose certain restrictions", he said.
     "We do not want to impose lockdown immediately based on 25 cases from the community but want to base our decision on a more scientific assessment," he said.
The economy is slowly limping back to normal and "we do not want to disturb it as far as possible but if the situation demands, we will have to take tough decisions", the minister said. PTI DG SMN
SMN

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)