Guwahati/Agartala, Jun 23 (IANS): Assam's Covid-19 management burden, including quarantine pressure, is likely to start falling from July's first week, while in terms of testing of samples and mortality rates, the state is now in a leading position in the country, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Monday.
With the return of over 2.42 lakh natives from different parts of the country, the Covid-19 surge in Assam continued, with cases climbing to 5,586 as on Monday night.
"We have kept quarantined over 2.42 lakh returnees besides other suspected people. This was a very big challenge. However, the pressure would gradually be reduced from this week end," the minister told the media.
Sarma said that so far three lakh samples were tested in the state and in overall testing per million, Assam is in sixth position in the country with 8,229 against 19,000 in Delhi, 12,000 in Andhra Pradesh, 11,000 in Tamil Nadu, 8,582 in Rajasthan and 8,475 in Himachal Pradesh.
The minister said that with the recovery rate improving to 63.03 per cent, the state secured the third position in the country in this count after Gujarat (70 per cent) and Punjab (66 per cent).
Of the 5,586 cases, 3,521 have so far recovered from the disease while ten people died so far. "Among the states with better health infrastructure, the recovery rate is 59.50 per cent in West Bengal, 55.26 per cent in Delhi, 55.16 per cent in Tamil Nadu, 52 per cent in Kerala and 49.78 per cent in Maharashtra," he said.
Meanwhile, the Assam Targeted Surveillance Programme (ATSP), aiming to conduct 50,000 random tests of samples in 11 days, continued for the sixth day on Monday.
The Health Minister said that if a sizable number of positive cases are found after testing 50,000 samples, several stringent measures, including total lockdown, would be re-imposed in Guwahati and at other vulnerable places.
"The new strategies are being considered to check the coronavirus spread in Assam," Sarma said, adding that a fresh lockdown to counter Covid-19 in the state may not be economically feasible at the moment.
Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Samir Kumar Sinha said that random testing under the ATSP would be conducted in four categories of people, including workers involved in truck parking, loading and unloading of goods, including railway goods and warehouses.
Similar random testing would be conducted on all frontline district officials, including health workers, police personnel, officials of the Transport Department and those associated with Covid-19 management, hotel staff and family members of people released from the institutional quarantine centres.
Meanwhile, a 40-year old man was on Monday found hanging from the ventilator window of his quarantine room in a lodge in western Assam's Dhubri town.
According to police, the man, a goldsmith by profession, was under home isolation in the lodge since June 19 after he had completed the mandatory seven-day institutional quarantine after his entry to Assam from neighbouring West Bengal.
In Agartala, Tripura Minister Ratan Lal Nath said that against the national recovery rate of 53 per cent, the state's recovery rate is 63.84 per cent. "In overall testing per million, Tripura tests 14,013 against the national average of 4,305," he told the media.