4 Coronavirus Patients from Uttar Pradesh Undergoing Treatment in Assam: Himanta Biswa Sarma

Guwahati, April 18, 2020:

Assam Finance and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has announced that 4 people from the State of Uttar Pradesh, who had attented the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in national capital New Delhi, are now undergoing treatment in Assam.

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Although 34 cases have been reported, 30 of the patients are from the state of Assam, and 4 are from the Shamli district in Uttar Pradesh. The Minister informed that they had initially been to Nizamuddin Markaz and had come to visit Nalbari when they were tracked down, tested, and sent to quarantine. These 4, Sarma said, are undergoing treatment in Assam.

Of the cases that have been reported in Assam so far, the ages range from 18 to 71. Most of the case are reported in the age-range from 50-59.

Gender wise break up of the covid-19 cases in Assam: 79% males; 21% females.

Himanta Biswa Sarma also said that out of 34 cases, 32 cases are related to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Assam.

Out of the cases, 82% of the cases are "silent carriers", Sarma further said. 20% had fever, 11% had cough, and 7% had sore throat condition, the biggest signifier of the COVID-19 sickness. Among the cases, only one, the first case detected in the Karimganj district, has a co-morbid condition, that is, cancer.

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Addressing the media here today, the Health Minister said that 4,400 samples have been tested (including samples from Meghalaya and Mizoram). 34 have tested positive for the COVID-19, while 167 results are still awaited. Assam now has 21 cases of the COVID-19 as 12 patients have been heretofore discharged from medical facilities in the state.

The Minister also informed that with the inclusion of a new lab in Tezpur, the number of testing centres in the state has risen to 6.

Responding to Assam's recent procurement of 50,000 PPE kits from China, Sarma said that the shipment has been kept on standby and payment has been withheld after certain sections of media reported that Chinese kits have failed safety tests.

When we ordered PPE kits from China, we had 22,000 kits. As soon as the kits arrived, there were reports that 50,000 such kits which were rejected by the DRDO. However, they said that they had said that they did not reject; they had merely tested. Because of this, there are apprehensions among the doctors and nurses.

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The stock has been kept at the warehouse, and payment has been "If our kits run out. As of now, we are assured that the kits are with Assam", he said. He added that the kits will be used only after testing, as there should not be any "apprehensions" in the minds of trhe doctors and nurses.

Now, he said that only the kits which have been produced in India will be be in usage in the state of Assa. These, he said, number around 1.5 lakh (approximately).

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