COVID-19: Assam reports 3 new cases, total 16; all attended Markaz

Guwahati: Three more COVID-19 cases have been reported from Assam, this time from Goalpara, taking the total to 16 so far. The latest three patients also attended Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Nizamuddin Markaz in Delhi earlier last month.

This was updated by health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma at 12.15 am on Thursday, April 2.

This comes a few hours after Sarma announced on Wednesday night that eight more cases of coronavirus were detected in the state. They too had attended the Tablighi Jamaat gathering. The reports came from a COVID testing lab in Jorhat.

A day earlier, on Tuesday, Assam reported its first COVID-19 case. Md Jamaluddin, a 52-year-old resident of Karimganj, tested positive for the virus. He too was a participant at the Nizamuddin Markaz. He is being treated at Silchar Medical College.

Earlier in the day, the minister informed that four new cases had been confirmed at Gauhati Medical College & Hospital.

They were identified as Md Arshad Ali (19) from Nalbari district, Md Hazarat Ali (60) from Jagiroad, Md Nuruddin (55) from Jagiroad, Md Janab Ali (46) from Jagiroad.

Sarma said that unlike HIV cases where the patient’s name is not revealed, the names of COVID-19 patients are being released so that anyone who came in contact with them can come forward and get themselves tested.

The Assam government got a list of 547 people from the Centre for being in and around the Nizamuddin Markaz hotspot in March during a religious congregation. The health minister informed that of these 134 are not suspected prima facie, and 68 people haven’t come back to the state, which leaves roughly about 347 people in the state.

So far, 230 of these have been identified and located, and the state is working on contacting the others.