Guwahati:
Assam Finance and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who has been at the forefront of the battle against the Covid-19 in Assam, today reached Rangia to console the family of a man who had passed away last night from the coronavirus in the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH).
The patient had died at the GMCH prior to detection of the disease and was the second Covid-19 casualty in the day. Earlier, another patient, a Mumbai-returned man who was also suffering from neck cancer, had succumbed to death.
Sarma who met the bereaved family with his armed entourage, offered his condolences and later took to Twitter where he wrote, "I join them in this moment of grief and pray to God to grant them the strength to bear this loss."
Pertinently, the cases in Assam are rising in quick succession and Monday saw the biggest single day spike in the state's history. So far, 20 people have detected positive within the time span of one hour. At 11.05 AM, Assam health minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted about 6 new positive cases in the state. Among them, two cases each are from Jorhat and Golaghat, while one case each has been reported from Kokrajhar and Nagaon. One of the Jorhat patients had returned from Chennai while other patients had returned from Darjeeling.
Later in the day, Sarma again took to announce that 14 new COVID-19 cases have been confirmed. Of the new cases, 7 are from Kamrup , 2 from Hojai, 2 from Biswanath, 1 from Nagaon, and 2 from Nalbari.