GUWAHATI: Even as the total number of coronavirus cases has breached the 5000-mark in Assam, state health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma expressed optimism at the recovery rate of COVID-patients, saying that the curve is apparently flattening.
“The number of active patients is currently lesser than the number of discharged patients. As it is, over 60 per cent of the patients have been discharged from hospital. So, we can say that the curve is flattening to an extent,” Sarma told reporters.
Over the past few days, the average rate of daily positive cases recorded in the state too has come down drastically.
The minister however said that it was too early to conclude on community transmission. “We do not know as of now how many cases might emerge from the community. However, once we conduct 50,000 random tests by the end of this month, we will have a fair idea,” he said.
On the increasing number of cases, Sarma said that majority of them were cases from outside and that such cases would subside once the frequency of trains bringing people to the state also comes down.
“This is the last phase of trains bringing people to the state in large numbers. In the coming week though, the arrivals would be relatively less. Hence we can hope that the number of such imported cases would come down drastically,” the minister said.
In regard to the new cases without travel history, Sarma said that their contact history has been ascertained.
“This pandemic has exposed us to a new set of challenges. We need to upgrade our learning as we begin to comprehend the virus better. We shall soon have a lab at MMC Hospital to study the virus,” he added.