Assam exceeds testing rate of Kerala, aims for 10,000 corona tests per day

In the wake of spurt in cases of coronavirus across the country, Assam has exceeded the testing rate of Kerala. According to Assam Health Minister, the state will start testing of swab samples of 10,000 people per day to detect COVID-19 patients and by June 15, two lakh people would be tested creating a record in India.

Dispur: Assam has exceeded the testing rate of Kerala and within a week it will start testing of swab samples of 10,000 people per day to detect COVID-19 patients and by June 15, two lakh people would be tested creating a record in India, Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed on Sunday.

The minister said that Assam has overtaken the testing rate of Kerala, which (Kerala) he said so far tested around 70,000 samples. "Kerala's health infrastructure is 60 years old and Assam's health infrastructure are is 3 to 4 years old."

The minister said that in the past 90 days, swab samples of 1,00,483 people were tested in seven laboratories and by June 15, two lakh people would be tested creating a record in India.

"From next week two to three more laboratories would start testing of samples increasing the testing capacity to 10,000 samples per day," he said.

"By sacrificing their personal safety, the health workers have done an incredible task by testing a record number of samples. Despite 1, 272 patients in Assam, in almost all 33 districts, there is no community spread of the coronavirus. Currently, 4,232 corona patients can be treated at a time," Sarma added.

Read:Over 4,600 arrested in Assam for violating lockdown norms, Rs 3.53 cr fines collected

According to the minister, since the withdrawal of the inter-state restrictions by the Union Home Ministry on May 4, over 2.30 lakh people returned to Assam from 14 states heavily increasing the coronavirus cases in Assam and all the people are properly quarantined with no major problems.

"Highest number of people tested COVID-19 positive among the people returned from Maharashtra, followed by 333 positive cases from among the people returned from Tamil Nadu, 134 from those from Delhi and 111 cases from among the people from West Bengal."

Sarma said that with the increasing of the testing capacity (of samples), there would be 4-day institutional and 10-day home quarantine. To prevent the spread of the coronavirus in the society, Sarma also said that the Assam government had launched a new scheme "Ruthless Quarantine With Big Heart."

While Assam's main city and commercial hub Guwahati falls in Kamrup Metro, Golaghat district is a major tea growing area and part of the famous Kaziranga National Park in the district.

(IANS Report)