Guwahati, May 19 - As many as 42 new COVID-19 cases were reported on Tuesday � the highest in a day so far � taking the total novel coronavirus cases in the State to 157.
A total of 29 persons currently under quarantine at the Sarusajai camp in the city have tested positive for the virus. One among the latest positive cases is a two-month-old baby boy of Hojai who had returned from Mumbai with his parents.
Eight persons � six from Kamrup district and two from Biswanath Chariali � had returned from Haryana. Two others from Hojai had a Mumbai travel history, one from Chhaygaon had returned from Kolkata and a 20-year-old woman from Nagaon had returned from Rajasthan.
The wife and daughter of cancer patient Gopindra Chandra Malakar who died at the GMCH on Monday have also tested positive for COVID-19. Malakar was also positive for the virus.
The other patients are from Karimganj (2), Jorhat (2), Golaghat (2) and Kokrajhar (1) and Nagaon (1). The patients from Jorhat had returned from Chennai and Darjeeling, and were in quarantine.
�All of them were in the quarantine system and hence we feel the virus has not spread further from them. One positive patient from Jamunamukh was in home quarantine due to physical problems. The patient has been brought to Guwahati,� Minister of State for Health Pijush Hazarika said.
Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today visited the residence of Amulya Kalita who had died at the GMCH and was later found to be COVID-19 positive. �He was 65 years old and had come to GMCH in bad condition. Due to his symptoms we conducted swab tests after death and it was found to be COVID-19 positive,� Sarma said.
Kalita�s source of infection is not known. His village � Na Satra � has been declared as containment zone.
Kalita�s sample was among six found to be COVID-19 positive last night. Three were from the Sarusajai quarantine camp and two were linked to the potato godown case. One of the positive patients � Jitendra Patil (potato godown link) � was missing for a few hours until he was tracked by Assam Police at around 2 am and taken to the MMCH.
The Kamrup Metro district administration today declared two new areas � Bishnupur (Fatasil) and Bihari Patty (Bhootnath) � as containment zones after detection of COVID-19 cases there. The two patients from these areas are linked to the potato godown case.
