Guwahati: Assam reported 201 fresh COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, taking the state’s tally to 4,510, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
A total of 191 cases were reported late on Tuesday night, while 10 cases were reported during the day, he said.
The state’s recovery rate has also improved to over 55 per cent with the discharge of 206 patients from various hospitals on Tuesday, taking the total number of those cured from coronavirus in the state to 2,411, Sarma said.
Of the total 4,510 cases, eight have died so far and there are 2,088 active cases while three people have migrated out of the state, he said.
Meanwhile, a record testing of 10,000 samples was done in the state on Tuesday, taking the total number of tests done so far to 2.27 lakh, the minister said.
The state health department is launching Assam Targeted Surveillance Program (ATSP) from Wednesday as a crucial step towards combating COVID-19 effectively in the state, Sarma said.
“We aim to conduct more than 50,000 random testings in a week’s time, targeting vulnerable areas”, he said.
Under ATSP, samples of people working in locations such as truck parking areas, loading and unloading centres, godown areas, weigh bridges,roadside eateries will be collected and tested.
Staff of hotels used as institutional quarantine will also be tested along with frontline officials like police personnel, the minister said.
ATSP will also cover the family members or co-residents of homes of people who have been released from institutional quarantine, he added.
The entire exercise was expected to be finished by June 27 and shall involve Deputy Commissioners of each district who will ensure the availability of adequate facilities, Sarma said.
In order to facilitate people to get themselves tested, incase required, without having to visit hospitals, some health facilities have been identified by the health department where swab collection for COVID-19 will be done free of cost, he said.
Meanwhile, the state health department has issued a new notification announcing additional categories of air passengers exempted from institutional quarantine. These include couples, couples with children and couples with their parents who travel to the state together in a group.
These categories of air passengers are exempted from institutional quarantine provided they are asymptomatic, every person in the group shall undergo 14 days home quarantine after compliance with the health protocols such as collection of swab samples for COVID-19 test, hand stamping, conversion of home into containment zone, the order stated.