GUWAHATI: Assam health and family welfare minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday informed that the condition of one among the 28 patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 in Assam was critical and that he has been shifted to the intensive care unit of Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH).
“The condition of the 28th case (from Hailakandi) of COVID-19 from Assam is alarming. Though his other parameters are stable, his oxygen saturation is decreasing. Shifting to ICU of SMCH for better monitoring,” Sarma tweeted on Thursday afternoon.
The 65-year-old man, who has a travel history to Saudi Arabia and is linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Nizamuddin Markaz, had tested positive for the virus on Tuesday, the minister had informed a couple of days back.
He however said that most of other patients were recovering well and that he has been informed by doctors about the possible discharge of four to five patients from hospital by Friday evening.
Sarma said that over 70,000 people who were put under quarantine in camps across the state post lockdown would complete their mandatory 14-day isolation period in various camps of the state by Friday and would be allowed to go home after proper tests and screening.
The minister visited the quarantine camp at Srirampur gate along the Assam-Bengal border on Thursday and interacted with the people who had come from outside the state but were stranded at the border – Srirampur and Boxirhat – following imposition of the 21-day lockdown on the midnight of March 24, 2020.
“Those who have completed their 14-day quarantine period in the border camps would be allowed to go home after tests and screening. Next, we have to decide on how to bring those currently stranded outside Assam to the state in a disciplined manner,” Sarma told the media.
“Those entering Assam from outside would have to undergo the mandatory 14-day quarantine drill. However, such an exercise would be carried out either in their homes or at camps close to their homes,” he said.
Doctors from medical colleges in Guwahati, Barpeta and Kokrajhar civil hospital screened patients at the Srirampur quarantine camp on Thursday.
On whether the lockdown in the state would be extended or relaxed, the minister said that the decision would depend on what the Centre decides and a call would be taken on April 12.