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Guwahati, June 18 (PTI): One more person died of Covid- 19 in Assam on Thursday, raising the death toll due to coronavirus in the state to nine, while 82 people tested positive taking the total number of cases to 4,777, Health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
The person died in Diphu Medical College and Hospital and this is the second death from Karbi Anglong district.
Out of the nine deaths, three cancer patients succumbed to the infection.
Among the people who tested positive for the disease on Thursday, 22 are from Baksa, 14 from Karbi Anglong, 11 from Chirang, 9 from Dibrugarh, seven from Dhubri, five from Golaghat, two each from Sibsagar, Nagaon, Barpeta and Kamrup (M) and one each from Bishwanath, Nalbari, Charaideo, Tinsukia, Kokrajhar and Dhemaji, the minister said.
Of the total 4,777 cases in Assam, nine people have died, 2,111 are active cases while three persons have migrated out, he said.
Meanwhile, 12 more patients were released late on Wednesday night after they tested negative, taking the total number of patients discharged on Thursday to 243, he said.
The state's recovery rate has improved to over 57 per cent with the number of discharged people reaching 2,654, higher than the number of active cases, he said.
Meanwhile, the Assam Targeted Surveillance Program (ATSP), aiming to conduct more than 50,000 random tests during a week, continued for the second day on Thursday.
"We aim to conduct more than 50,000 random testings in a weeks’ time, targeting vulnerable areas," he said.
Under the ATSP, samples of people working in locations such as truck parking places, loading and unloading centres, godown areas, weigh bridges and dhabas 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.
The ATSP will also cover family members/co-residents of homes of persons who have been released from institutional quarantine, he added.
The minister said that the future course of action for containment of coronavirus pandemic in Guwahati shall be based on the result of these tests.
The entire exercise was expected to be completed by June 27 and shall involve the deputy commissioner of each district who will ensure the availability of adequate facilities, the minister said. The number of samples tested in 12 laboratories of the state has reached 2,46,590, he said.