Barak Valley registers 268 positive cases on Sunday

August 16: The number of coronavirus positive cases are on the rise in Barak Valley along with the rest of Assam. On Sunday, the number of fresh cases again was on the rise in the valley. A total of 268 new COVID-19 positive cases were detected from the three districts of Barak Valley during the day.

Here is the district-wise break up of fresh COVID-19 positive cases detected on Sunday in Barak Valley:

• Cachar: 161 positive cases   (It was 148 on Saturday)
• Karimganj: 74 positive cases
• Hailakandi: 33 positive cases (It was 34 on Saturday)

On Sunday, once again the number of coronavirus cases in Cachar went up after a somewhat lull of 2 days. On Sunday, 125 persons were detected positive as per Rapid Antigen Test (RAT), whereas, 36 of them were found positive in RT-PCR Test. This means, till 6 PM on Sunday, a total of 161 persons tested positive in Cachar. This was informed by Suman Choudhury, District Media Expert.

With 161 new positive cases on Sunday, a total of 4237 coronavirus cases were reported from Cachar as of now. A total of 2488 patients were discharged in the district. At present, there are 1738 active cases in Cachar. Further, the district also witnessed 11 COVID-19 deaths.

On Sunday, Assam registered 7 more COVID-19 deaths, thereby taking the death tally of the state to 189. Out of the seven deceased, one is from Cachar district. Ashutosh Dey (72) of Cachar lost his life due to COVID-19.

Five more Covid Care Centres have come up in Cachar district. These are Assam University, Silchar (500-bedded capacity), NIT, Silchar (300-bedded capacity), Don Bosco School, Silchar (300-bedded capacity), Judhistar Saha HS School (130-bedded capacity), Kachudaram Model Hospital (1800-bedded capacity). This was done keeping in consideration the increasing load of asymptomatic COVID positive cases in the district and to reduce bed occupancy at SMCH and other hospitals.

33 fresh COVID-19 positive cases have been reported on Sunday from Hailakandi, taking the total tally to 1,649. Health authorities here disclosed that of the 33 positive cases detected on Sunday, 21 cases have been detected under the Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) and 12 under RT-PCR. Altogether 752 cases have been found positive under RAT with over 50 per cent without travel history. 1,196 persons on being cured have been released from hospitals.The number of active cases is 442. 13 persons are currently under facility quarantine centres while 6,514 under home quarantine. Of the 16,340 swab samples taken, 14,305 turned out to be negative. Swab results of 258 persons are awaited.

Hailakandi district’s COVID-related death has risen to four with succumbing of a health worker to the disease on Saturday. Lab technician Foyaz Ahmed Laskar who was admitted at the Silchar Medical College and Hospital in a serious condition succumbed to COVID-19 on Sunday at around 6 pm. His mortal remains were brought to his native place Mohammadpur- I village under Lala revenue circle where his last rites were performed as per COVID-19 protocols.

Karimganj district registered 74 new COVID-19 positive cases on Sunday. The health department has appealed to people to come voluntarily for testing. Rapid Antigen tests were conducted in many parts of the district. Till now, 1539 persons were detected as coronavirus positive in Karimganj, out of which, 749 patients have recovered. At present, there are 790 active cases in the district.

Apart from the valley, a total of 1317 persons tested positive in Assam on Sunday, thereby taking the state tally to 76,875. As of now, there are 21,468 active cases in the state. Meanwhile, 1929 patients were also discharged from across the state during the day. With this, a total of 55,215 persons were discharged in Assam. Moreover, during the day, 7 persons died due to COVID-19 in Assam, thereby taking the death tally to 189.