COVID-19 patient's wife tests positive for disease in Assam; number rises to 32

Guwahati, Apr 15 () The wife of a COVID-19 patient tested positive for the disease in Assam on Wednesday, taking the tally in the state to 32, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

The 32 cases include one who had died due to coronavirus.

"A woman from Dhubri has tested #COVID positive. She is wife of a #COVID19 positive person who is connected both with #NizamuddinMarkaz, and Athgaon Kabristan congregation in Guwahati," Sarma tweeted.

Three COVID-19 patients had attended a congregation in Athgaon Kabristan Masjid here on March 12, following which the state government sealed the area and declared it a containment zone.

The latest COVID-19 patient is the fourth from Dhubri district and the sixth woman from the state to contract the disease, all linked with the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi.

Four of the six women from Golaghat district had accompanied their family members to the Nizamuddin event while two others from Dhubri and Morigaon district are wives of COVID-19 patients who were part of the congregation.

Thirty-one of the 32 COVID-19 patients in Assam are linked with the Tablighi Jamaat event.

A total of 33 COVID-19 patients are being treated in the state, including a person from Nagaland who has been admitted to the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, Sarma said.

Of the 3,209 samples tested in Assam, 1,421 were linked to the Nizamuddin event, of which 31 have tested positive and results for 32 are awaited, the minister said.

All the persons who had attended the Delhi event have either been quarantined or isolated, he said.

Sarma said the condition of all the COVID-19 patients, barring a cancer patient who had tested positive in Silchar, is stable and they would be gradually released after Wednesday if their condition does not deteriorate.

The highest number of cases was reported in Golaghat district at nine, followed by four each in Goalpara, Nalbari and Morigaon and Dhubri, two in Cachar, one each in Hailakandi, Kamrup (Metropolitan), Kamrup, Lakhimpur and South Salmara districts. DG ACD AQSAQS