GUWAHATI, Aug 1 - The death toll due to COVID-19 crossed the 100-mark with three deaths reported on Saturday, even as the State government announced opening of gyms and malls in Guwahati and relaxations in inter-district movement. Morning Pohleng (40) and Lila Paul (70) of Cachar and Hiramon Thakur (68) of Golaghat, succumbed to the infection on Saturday, taking the death toll to 101.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said there will be relaxation in inter-district movement every Monday and Tuesday. Inter-district movement of individuals was banned since last fortnight.
Moreover, 100 per cent attendance in offices is likely from Monday, the Minister said, adding that the Chief Secretary shall be issuing the detailed notification.
However, as precautionary steps, 12-hour night curfew and weekend lockdown in all urban areas of the State shall remain in force, Sarma added. He said that in line with the State government�s emphasis on maximum testing for early detection of COVID-19, a target of 50,000 tests has been set on August 4, with the daily testing numbers increasing gradually. �More tests will lead to more detection and it will, in turn, contain the spread to a level. For this, the cooperation of the public is a must,� he added.
In case of Guwahati, Sarma said that per�day testing of COVID-19 has increased from 2,112 on July 1 to 6,240 on July 31, with the positivity rate in the city dropping from 33.5 per cent on July 4 (777 cases) to 4.5 per cent (281 cases) on July 31.
He informed that from now on, gyms and malls in Guwahati will also be allowed to operate on the basis of one-side-of-the-road rule.
Meanwhile, the COVID-19 tally in the state breached the 40,000-mark, while the number of recovered patients also went past 30,000. Altogether, 1,862 new cases of COVID-19 cases were detected in the State since Friday, taking the overall figure to 40,269. On the other hand, the number of recovered patients also grew steadily with 1,277 discharges Since Friday, taking the number to 30,357.
