Covid-19 cases continue to rise in NE, two more deaths reported

Guwahati/Agartala, June 10 (IANS): Covid-19 cases kept on the upward path in all the eight northeastern states, while two more people – one each in Assam and Tripura – succumbed to the disease taking the region’s toll to seven, officials said on Tuesday.

According to health officials in Guwahati, a 58-year-old man died in Assam due to Covid-19, taking the state’s death toll to five.

The patient, who tested positive after returning from Chennai, died at Diphu Medical College and Hospital in southeastern Assam.

Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb also announced said that a 42-year-old male from West Tripura also died on Tuesday afternoon.

“Doctors gave their best but failed to save his precious life. On May 1, he suffered a stroke and was a patient of hypertension,” Deb, who also holds the Health Department, said in a tweet.

Tripura’s Law and Education Minister Ratan Lal told the media that the state government would provide INR 10 lakh to the family of the victim, who tested positive on June 3.

Earlier, a 50-year-old woman Covid-19 patient allegedly committed suicide at the Tripura government-run Govind Ballabh Pant Medical College and Hospital here on June 2.

The woman was also suffering from kidney-related ailments. Her death was termed as “unnatural death” by the government. “After the death, her swab sample, which was collected before her death, tested positive for Covid-19,” said Nath.

The eight northeastern states so far recorded 4,427 positive cases, out of which 3,048 are active cases.

Assam tops the list with 2,937 (1,844 active) cases, followed by Tripura with 866 cases (670 active), Manipur with 304 cases (243 active), 128 cases (118 active) in Nagaland, 88 cases (87 active) in Mizoram, 57 cases (56 active) in Arunachal Pradesh, 34 cases (20 active) in Meghalaya and 13 cases (10 active) in Sikkim.

According to the state governments, the cases have gone up with the return of around four lakh natives from around India, and health officials predicted the number would go more as the testing of samples of the returnees continues.