Guwahati: Chinmoy Nath, the additional deputy commissioner of Assam's Kamrup (Metro) district, has tested COVID-19 amid a rapid surge of cases in the urban agglomeration.
According to reports, the ADC's coronavirus test result came in late at night on Friday, and his tested positive status was revealed to some sections of the media early in the morning on Saturday.
The ADC had reportedly been suffering from fever and cough, due to which he went for a swab test on Wednesday, and his results were subsequently declared 2 days later. He has been shifted to the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) for treatment. It has now come to light that Nath was seen hobnobbing with Himanta Biswa Sarma, the state's health minister while visiting quarantine centres in the district.
Meanwhile, contact tracing has been initiated and the swabs of all the persons who have recently come in touch with the infected ADC have been carried out. Nath has become the latest Government official to be infected in the line of duty. The Sentinel Digital tried reaching out to Nath for a statement, but could not reach him.
Nath has been infected with the virus at a time when there has been a massive surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in Guwahati, a situation that has been termed as "critical" by none other than Union Home Minister Amit Shah himself. Shah has urged the administration to conduct as many as 10,000 tests on a regular basis to isolate the virus cases.
Meanwhile, ramping up the COVID treating infrastructure in the city, the Biswa Sarma-led health department has opened a plasma bank in the GMCH to treat severe cases. Additionally, 2 lakh antigen testing kits have also been procured by the Government, out of which 1 lakh kits are being kept for Guwahati alone.