GUWAHATI, April 2 - The State government has so far traced 488 people who returned from Delhi�s Nizamuddin area � the hotspot of COVID-19 in the country � last month and 395 of them have been put under quarantine.
However, 15 such persons are still untraced, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, warning that the State was not yet out of danger and the preparedness will have to be there till October-November.
While 361 samples have been sent for tests, the number of COVID-19 positive cases in the State still stands at 16, but may rise by tonight.
�The Central government had sent a list of 456 persons who were present in and around the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Markaz Nizamuddin, but the State government got an additional list of 276 more through different sources, mostly through information given by villagers through the 104 helpline,� Sarma said.
Around 226 names in the list are of people who were travelling through the Nizamuddin or have not returned to the State, leaving the State to locate a total of 503 people who came back.
�We have found 488 persons so far and 15 are still missing. 395 have been put on quarantine. We have collected samples of 361 and all the results are expected by 12 noon tomorrow. Even if the results are negative, the people will be in quarantine and three more tests will be conducted on every person in the next fourteen days,� the Health Minister said.
In the second leg of the operation, the government has begun a drive to trace those people who have come into contact with these 503 people.
Among the sixteen people who have tested positive so far, eight are from Golaghat, three each from Goalpara and Jagiroad and one from Nalbari. All had Nizamuddin travel history.
Apart from those who have returned from Nizamuddin, the State had conducted sample tests of 951 others. Ninety eight results are pending and the rest are negative.
