IAS officer dies of Covid complications as Assam's positivity rate hovers over 10%

GUWAHATI: A senior IAS officer died of post-Covid complications here on Sunday, even as the state's Covid positivity rate continued to hover at around 10%. A 1995-batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, Rajesh Prasad breathed his last in a private hospital. He was 52.
Prasad was looking after soil conservation, irrigation among other departments.
"Deeply saddened by the demise of Principal Secretary Rajesh Prasad, who passed away in Guwahati due to post-COVID complications. My sincere condolences to his family and loved ones. May his atman attain sadgati. Om Shanti!" tweeted chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Doctors said Prasad was admitted to the hospital two days ago after he had severely vomited blood. "He recently had Covid, though tested negative during the RAT conducted at the time of admission. But he continued to vomit blood," said a doctor. Several senior doctors from Guwahati were involved in his treatment at the initiative of the government, but the senior bureaucrat could not be saved. "He suffered from a cardiac arrest twice since yesterday. Today, we could not revive him after the heart attack for the second time this morning," he added.
Assam governor Jagdish Mukhi termed Prasad an efficient administrator. "Deeply saddened to learn about the untimely demise of Sri Rajesh Prasad, IAS, an efficient administrator, who was serving the Govt. as Principal Secretary in various departments of the State. The State has lost a dynamic and zealous administrator," Mukhi tweeted.
Assam on Saturday reported 736 fresh Covid cases, while the active caseload in the state touched 6,107. Saturday's positivity rate was recorded to be 10.77%. Dibrugarh reported the highest 89 cases, followed by Cachar (49), Lakhimpur (46), Kamrup-Metro (45) and Baksa (43). One Covid fatality was reported during the day.
Even as the Centre asked several states to increase the number of daily tests, in Assam, the daily test number continues to remain below 10,000. On Saturday, 6,833 tests were conducted, down from 7,922 the previous day.
"Covid appropriate behaviour such as wearing masks and social distancing is being flouted across the state. There seems to be no control on the fast spreading of the virus," said a health department official.