 "Coronavirus, RAT, rapid antigen testing")
Two persons died due to COVID-19 infection in Assam on Wednesday, taking the death toll to 66, while 972 fresh cases were reported in the state, Minister for Health and Family Welfare Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
The state's infection tally stands at 27,744, he said.
Two patients, aged 54 and 47 years, from Jorhat and Kamrup Metro, respectively, died on Wednesday.
"Two more patients lost the battle against #COVID19 today taking total death count in Assam to 66. My thoughts and prayers are with their families, the minister tweeted.
Out of the 972 new COVID19 positive cases reported in Assam, 354 cases were recorded from Kamrup Metropolitan and 51 from Jorhat district.
The number of recovered patients on Wednesday was higher than that of the number of new cases in the state, with 1,317 patients discharged from different hospitals.
"1,317 patients have been discharged today, one of the rare days when recovered number is higher than new cases. Our recovery rate continues to give us hope, Sarma tweeted.
The total cases in the state reached 27,744, and out of these, 8,325 are active cases, 19,350 have recovered, 66 have died and three migrated out of the state, he said.
In Assam, 982 police personnel have tested positive so far and out of them, three died, 662 have recovered and 90 have rejoined duty, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) G P Singh said.
Meanwhile, inter-district movement of people barred from Wednesday will be lifted for two days on July 30 and 31, except in containment zones, subject to the strict compliance of COVID-19 regulations as detailed in various guidelines issued by the state government, according to an order issued by Chief Secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna.
Night curfew across the state and weekend lockdown in town and municipality areas will continue to remain in force.
The health minister also inaugurated two new testing laboratories at the State Cancer Institute of Gauhati Medical College and at Dr B Barooah Cancer Institute with the number of laboratories going up to 15 in the state.
"Going ahead, our testing readiness and network of laboratories will determine our ability to contain a pandemic, Sarma tweeted.
The state has so far tested nearly seven lakh swab samples.
He also held a video conference with doctors of all medical colleges and district hospitals.
"Our very impressive #COVID19 recovery demonstrates resolve and dedication of our healthcare staff. Their response has been sterling, the minister added.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
