10 persons from Assam test positive for Covid-19 in New Delhi — Sarma

Guwahati, April 29 (PTI): Ten persons, including seven CRPF jawans, from Assam have tested positive for Covid-19 in New Delhi, which is a matter of concern for the state, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Wednesday.

A CRPF Sub-Inspector Ikram Hussain, hailing from Assam's Barpeta district, had died of the disease on Tuesday in New Delhi.

"These developments are a matter of concern for us as the return of people, who are now outside, to the state may lead to a second wave of infection", Sarma said at a press conference here.

Many people from different parts of the country are "reaching out to us to bring them back to the state but we will have to take tentative and cautious steps in this regard", the minister said.

Among the 10 who have tested positive in Delhi, two are cancer patients from the state who had gone for treatment to the capital and seven are CRPF jawans, he said.

Sarma said that public hygiene and social distancing was of utmost importance to ensure that the spread of the disease was contained.

The minister said a 16-year old testing positive for coronavirus on Tuesday in Bongaigaon, the first case of the district, was also causing concern as "she had tested positive 36 days after she came into contact with her Covid-19 positive grandfather, a Tablighi Jamaat attendee from Dhubri".

The girl is the first positive case of home quarantine in the state and "it is possible that she came into contact with another positive person who is yet to traced".

"The Bongaigaon Deputy Commissioner has been asked to examine the matter minutely and I will go there tomorrow to review the situation", he said.

Another 61-year old male from Goalpara had also tested positive on Tuesday, taking the total cases to 37 in the state.

These two cases were reported five days after a person from Dhubri tested positive on April 16.

Meanwhile, two persons, hailing from Dhubri and Goalpara, were discharged from hospital here on Wednesday after four repeated tests were found negative.

Of the total 37 Covid-19 cases, seven are active cases, one person has died and 29 have been released so far.

The minister said that Nalbari and Golaghat may be excluded from the list of five Red Zone districts in the next few days along with the lifting of the containment zone restrictions from the high-end apartment here where the solo non-Tablighi related person in the state tested positive.