vFour more COVID-19 patients, including a senior doctor of the Gauhati Medical College Hospital (GMCH), died and 1,001 new cases were reported on Monday, taking Assam's infection tally to 17,807, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
The death toll of novel coronavirus patients in the state has risen to 45 but the Death Audit Board is yet to ascertain whether five of these had the "underlying cause of death" as COVID-19.
The state has reported 1,001 new cases and out of these, 513 are from Guwahati, Sarma said.
This is the second highest single-day spike in cases so far, he said.
The highest single-day spike of 1,202 cases was reported on July 4. The the total number of cases in Guwahati has reached 7,544 since June 24.
The 56-year-old doctor, an associate professor in the department of opthalmology, is the first COVID-19 death from the medical fraternity in the state. He was suffering from cough and fever and his antigen test was negative, following which his swab samples were sent for the RT-PCR test, a senior GMCH doctor said.
He was in home quarantine when his oxygen level fell this morning and he died on way to the hospital.
The other COVID-19 patients who died included a 31-year-old man from Golaghat and two others, aged 30 and 62, from the Kamrup Metropolitan district, Sarma said.
"Keep patience and take required precautions. Don't panic, for this too shall pass", the minister tweeted.
The 14-day lockdown imposed from June 28 in Kamrup Metropolitan district, under which Guwahati falls, was extended by a week till July 19 from 6 pm on Sunday.
The situation in Guwahati is grim as COVID cases are on a rise and it is "important that we have highest level of preparedness to deal with the emerging situation", Sarma said.
"Held a meeting today with principal, superintendent and doctors of GMCH to review infrastructure and readiness", he tweeted
Sarma, along with his junior minister Pijush Hazarika held a review meeting on Monday with officials of the health department and district administration on containment measures as well as to strategise the future course of action to deal with the ongoing COVID situation
Meanwhile, 522 patients were discharged on Monday taking the total number of recovered patients to 11,416 in Assam, he said.
Of the total of 17,807 positive cases, there are 6,348 active cases, 11,416 have recovered, 40 have died and three migrated out of the state, Sarma said.
The state has so far tested 5,63,482 samples, the health minister said.
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