Assam: Family of 1st COVID-19 Casualty Released from Institutional Quarantine

Hailakandi, April 28, 2020:

Family members of the first and only COVID-19 casualty from Assam, Foijul Hoque Barbhuiya, have been released from institutional quarantine on Tuesday after completion of 24 days' quarantine period.

Disclosing this, Joint Director of Health Services, Dr Ramesh Chandra Dwivedy said all the five members of the COVID-19 victim have been discharged from institutional quarantine this morning after their swab results tested negative for the third time.

Dwivedy said all the formalities were observed before they were discharged and they would now be put under home quarantine till May 6. "Necessary instructions have been given to them to follow the home quarantine rules and regulations," he added.

As a mark of respect and celebration, officials of the district administration, health functionaries and police personnel clapped as the family members, including children, walked out of the institutional quarantine on their way to their home.

Tridip Roy, the Circle Officer of Hailakandi, while wishing the family members a healthy and vigorous life, presented basketful of fruits as token of love from the district administration.

The son of the deceased man, Amirul Hoque Barbhuiyan, expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the district administration and health functionaries for taking good care of them during the institutional quarantine period. "We are indebted to the officials of the administration and health functionaries for giving us all the care and attention. We did not face any problem whatsoever during the quarantine period," said Amirul.

The first COVID-19 death in Assam and the entire North East region had taken place when the 65-year old Foijul Hoque Barbhuiyan of Barjurai village on the outskirts of Hailakandi district headquarters passed away at the Silchar Medical College and Hospital on April 10.

The COVID-19 victim had arrived from Saudi Arabia after performing Umrah Haj on March 18 and had links with the Nizamuddin event in Delhi after which he was placed under home quarantine, officials said. The district administration performed his last rites at a remote place here in accordance with the Islamic burial practices on April 10.

Barjurai, the village where the 65-year-old lived, was sealed close to midnight on April 7 after he was detected positive for the often-deadly contagion. This has been done under the Assam COVID-19 Containment Regulation, 2020, with strict perimeter and demarcation entry and exit points to ensure the residents do not come into contact with others.