Seven with comorbidities die of Covid-19 in Assam, toll 22 now

GUWAHATI: As many as seven Covid-19 patients with comorbidities died at various Covid Care hospitals of Assam since Tuesday night even as 397 others were discharged following their recovery on Wednesday. With the fresh fatalities, the death toll in the state has climbed to 22. Altogether 8,726 people have recovered so far.
Health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said Covid-19 has taken a new turn in the state and the elderly, who are in the high-risk group in the community, are getting infected now. “Till a few weeks ago, the death toll was lower because aged people were not infected then. But now, we have reached that stage where the elderly people are getting infected in the community,” he added.
While one woman of Kamrup, who was admitted to Army’s 151 Base Hospital at Basistha here on July 2 with Covid-19 along with Type II diabetes and hypertension died on Tuesday night, the other six died on Wednesday. Four of the six, all between 60 and 75 years of age, died within a span of three hours between 2 am and 5 am at the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital.
Sarma said they were on invasive ventillation and had severe pneumonia, urosepsis (infection in the urinary tract) and septic shock.
The fifth death in the day was reported from Tezpur medical College and Hospital where a 30-year-old man from Majbat in Udalguri, who was admitted on July 7 with septicaemia in shock along with a history of herbal medication, succumbed to Covid-19 attack.
A 19-year-old girl was the sixth fatality of the day at Jorhat Medical College and Hospital. Sarma said, “She had severe anaemia and sepsis and was in the ICU of Jorhat Medical College after she was referred from Sivasagar. Doctors did their best but unfortunately we couldn’t save her.”
Situation in Guwahati improving: Min
On the other hand, the situation in Guwahati continued to show signs of improvement. Sarma said, “Like yesterday (Tuesday), today, too, the positive rate would be around 16%. After July 10, I am confident the rate would further decline.”
Chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who reviewed the Covid-induced lockdown scenario in Kamrup (Metro) district, said due to the strict implementation of lockdown protocols, the rate of positivity among the tested cases has come down from 36% to 16% in Kamrup (Metro).
He added, “This lockdown would go a long way in breaking the chain of spread and managing the transmission of the pandemic effectively in Guwahati and other parts of Kamrup (Metro) district.”
The CM directed the district administration and police to ensure supply of essential commodities so that people in the district do not face hardships during the lockdown period. He also instructed officials to provide essentials to the poor and those belonging to the underprivileged sections of society.
Reiterating the state government’s commitment to protect the people of the state from Covid-19, Sonowal said all future actions would be taken after giving priority to public opinion and various sections of society would be consulted.