Guwahati, May 14 (IANS): Amid a sudden jump of 22 fresh COVID-19 positive cases in Assam's main city of Guwahati in the past 24 hours, the state's main health center -- Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) -- would be opened for the admission of the new patients from Friday after a week, Assam's Health Minister said on Thursday.

The GMCH was closed for new patients after a doctor, who is also a postgraduate student at the GMCH, tested Covid-19 positive on May 7. Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma while briefing the media said that 22 more fresh coronavirus cases were reported in Guwahati on Wednesday and Thursday, taking the total COVID-19 positive cases in the state to 86, though active cases are 43 and while 40 people were discharged from hospitals after they recovered from the contiguous virus and a patient migrated to Bihar.

In Assam, two people have so far died of the dreaded disease. These include a 16-year-old girl in Guwahati, who was found to be infected a day after her death on May 7. Sarma said that seven persons, including three cancer patients and a 13-year-old girl who recently underwent heart surgery in Mumbai, recently returned to Guwahati and tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday. The other three are the patients' attendants.

He said that after the central government withdrew the travel restrictions, 4,700 Assam residents and 6,412 people bound for other northeastern states entered into the state by road from different parts of the country leading to the 18 COVID-19 positive cases in Assam.

"Without classifying the areas as Red Zone or Orange Zone or Green Zone, the Assam government specifies the areas as containment zone in the exact areas where COVID-19 positive cases are found. If we declare a Red Zone or Orange Zone in big areas then business, economic activities would be affected and people would suffer more," said Sarma, who also holds the Assam Finance Department.