11 Assam Assembly employees test COVID-19 positive ahead of session

At least 11 employees of the Assam Legislative Assembly have been tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of the scheduled commencement of a session from August 31^st, 2020, a senior official said on August 7^th, 2020.

The Assembly administration is testing all its employees with the help of the Health Department. “We are conducting rapid antigen tests on all our employees. In three days till Thursday, 270 of our staff were tested, of which 11 tested positives for the virus,” Mrigendra Kumar Deka, Assembly Principal Secretary, said.

The infected people were admitted to the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital and the COVID Care Centre set up at IIT-Guwahati.

The COVID-19 death toll in Assam has gone up to 126 with five new patients succumbed to death in the last 24 hours, state Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma informed.

The deceased are Asab Uddin (50) and Sentulal Saha (70) of Karimganj, Manuranjan Paul (63) of Dibrugarh, Ram Surat Gowala (77) of Tinsukia and Dhiren Kalita (55) of Kamrup Metro.

Also read: Assam: NIA Rejects Anti-CAA Leader Akhil Gogoi’s Bail Plea

Assam reported 2372 COVID-19 cases in last 24 hours pushing the state’s total to 52817; of which 15,464 are still active and 37,224. The positivity rate was 4.25 per cent.

Of the 2372 confirmed cases, 470 from Kamrup (M), 197 from Nagaon, 163 from Cachar, 128 from Dibrugarh, 122 from Tinsukia and 104 from Jorhat.

Assam has registered highest number in the Northeast followed by 1957 active cases in Tripura, 1755 in Nagaland, 1304 in Manipur, 640 in Meghalaya, 475 in Sikkim and 251 in Mizoram.

Coronavirus cases in India has now crossed the 20 lakh-mark while over 41,000 people have died across the country. India recorded the biggest single-day spike in coronavirus cases with 62,000 new cases. The coronavirus vaccine being developed by Moderna has successfully managed to protect mice for catching infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19 in humans.

Readers like you make Inside Northeast’s work possible.

To support our brand of fearless and investigative journalism, support us HERE.

Download:

The Inside Northeast app HERE for News, Views, and Reviews from Northeast India.

Do keep following us for news on-the-go. We deliver the Northeast.