GUWAHATI, Aug 16 - The COVID-19 cases in the State reached 75,558 on Saturday, much higher than what the Central government had predicted.
The Centre had predicted that the novel coronavirus cases in Assam might cross 71,000 by August 15. Minister of State for Health Pijush Hazarika had, however, insisted that the health department would be able to contain the cases to below 65,000 by that timeframe.
Health officials said the more number of cases was due to the ramping up of the testing. �The more the number of tests, the more the number of cases,� they said.
The positivity rate in the State continued be around the five mark. Seven more deaths in the State on Saturday took the toll to 182. The number of discharged patients stood at 53,286.
Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the health department was watching the trend and on August 19 it will make a fresh assessment on the status.
�At GMCH, the mortality is going down after we started working on plasma. We feel if other hospitals follow suit, the mortality will go down further,� he said.
He informed that the health department would be providing pulse oximeters to patients opting for home isolation across the State from August 20. This facility is being provided only in Guwahati now.
Meanwhile, two more Covid care centres � a 40-bed facility for women and children at MMCH and a 850-bed facility at Nehru Stadium � are being set up and are expected to be functional soon. Also, a 704-bed Covid care centre will be functional at Mirza.