GUWAHATI: Assam’s Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said, “We do not have any confirmed Corona virus infectio0n case in the state as of now. We have started screening domestic travels in Railway stations too in addition to screening international travellers at the airports in the state.
“Nobody has been quarantined or in isolation ward in the state currently,” the minister said.
Sarma said that 29 samples have been tested at the microbiology centre at Guwahati Medical College and Hospital till date, with 28 of them testing negative and one resultwas pending.
“Six samples collected including one of the vehicle driver of the American tourist who visited Assam before going to Bhutan, and those of five other foreign tourists were tested negative at Regional Medical Research Centre, Lahowal (Dibrugarh),” Sarma said.
The health minister informed that the third accredited laboratory for testing samples for coronavirus became functional at Jorhat Medical College and Hospital from Monday and one sample was tested with the result still pending.
“Silchar Medical College and Hospital will soon have an accredited testing lab for testing samples to check the disease. Besides, three medical colleges of the state – Barpeta, Tezpur and Silchar – have now been made collection centres of samples for coronavirus tests,” Sarma said.
The minister said the state has as many as 2000 facilities to quarantine people at any given time and 507 beds at the isolation wards.
“The state has 269 ventilation facilities in government hospitals and 50 in private hospitals. There is no shortage of medicine, gloves and N95 masks at present,” he said.
“Management of Coronavirus will not be easy in the remote areas so prevention is imperative,” he added.
Domestic passengers
Airports in Assam will start screening of domestic passengers from Tuesday in the wake of the onset of the third stage – community transmission – of the novel coronavirus.
“From Tuesday morning, our medical teams stationed at all the airports will start screening domestic passengers as well to prevent local transmission of the disease. Till date, we have been carrying out screening of foreign passengers but post country-to-country transmission stage, now check-ups will be conducted on domestic passengers,” Sarma said.