Assam’s Covid toll goes past 2,000 as 75 more die

GUWAHATI: Assam’s Covid-19 death toll crossed the 2000-mark on Friday as 75 more people succumbed to the virus. At the same time, the state reported 4078 new cases.
Over 750 fatalities have occurred in the current month alone and the test positivity rate remained over 9% for the second consecutive day.
With most of deceased being above 50 years of age and belonging to Guwahati, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said Covid patients above the age of 50, who do not have a separate room with attached toilets, would have to be mandatorily shifted to COVID care centres or hospitals.
The chief minister cautioned that if the situation in Guwahati, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia does not improve in the next seven days, the state government might consider imposing a lockdown in the three places.
Sarma reviewed the functioning of Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) and instructed to give immediate treatment to Covid patients even late at night by the on-duty doctors while ensuring regular monitoring of the patients.
He also stressed on the importance of strengthening tele-medicine system and directed to providing free oximeter to poor patients staying in home isolation. He also instructed the health department to press 100 additional ambulances into service for quickly bringing patients to Covid care centres or hospitals.
The chief minister told the media that efforts have been taken to conduct one lakh tests daily in the state while 20,000 people would be tested daily in Guwahati from May 17.
He added that a new SOP for tea garden areas would be issued by the health department tomorrow while informing about steps taken for providing food items worth Rs 2000 as one-time allowance to poor patients in containment zones.
The CM said a 200-ICU bed Covid hospital is nearing completion at the car parking lot of the GMCH and another 24 ICUs at Kalapahar in the city will be functional soon. An MoU between state government and DRDO for setting up a 300-bed Covid hospital at Sarusajai has been signed for which Rs 19 crore has already been released.
Himanta added that there is enough stock of Remdesivir injection and oxygen in the state and that over 27 lakh people have been vaccinated till now in the state and 3 lakh 70 thousand vaccines are available.
“We are getting 25 MT of oxygen from central allocation daily and we have adequate supply of oxygen at the moment. From our surplus, we are sending 1MT oxygen to Tripura and 5 MT to Arunachal Pradesh daily,” the CM said.