GUWAHATI: Assam’s first patient to have tested positive for COVID-19 on March 31, was discharged from Silchar Medical College Hospital, along with another patient from Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital here on Wednesday.
State health and family welfare minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took to Twitter to inform that the two patients were discharged from hospital after three consecutive negative tests.
The development comes a day after two persons, including one with travel history to Cooch Behar in West Bengal, had tested positive for coronavirus in Kokrajhar and Goalpara districts on Tuesday.
“Now, the number of active cases in Assam is 9, with a total of 44 positive cases so far,” Sarma posted on his official Twitter handle on Wednesday.
It may be noted that the first COVID-19 patient in the state, who belongs to Karimganj district, had travelled to Delhi in the early part of March.
The 52-year-old, who is a cancer patient and also a diabetic, was admitted to Silchar Medical College Hospital with fever and cough on the night of March 29.
Seventh lab
Assam got its seventh laboratory for testing COVID-19 samples after the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) recognised the laboratory at Assam Medical College Hospital, Dibrugarh as an accredited facility.
The other six ICMR-accredited facilities in the state are Regional Medical Research Centre, Lahowal (Dibrugarh), Guwahati Medical College Hospital, Jorhat Medical College Hospital, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Medical College Hospital (Barpeta), Tezpur Medical College Hospital and Silchar Medical College Hospital.