Cachar reports 81 cases: 20-day highest, one dead in SMCH; “Linking surge with relaxation – amateur,” doctor

Alarming rise in the number of cases in Cachar district. From the twenties, the number of Covid positive cases rose to 81 on July 23 highest since July 2.

According to the data distributed by Cachar Health Department, 5,074 samples were tested on Rapid Antigen Test Kit and 65 were found positive reporting a 1.28% positivity rate higher than Assam’s 1.10%. According to the Health Minister of Assam Keshab Mahanta’s tweet, Assam reported 1621 cases after 1,47,175 tests.

Along with 65 positive cases on RAT, Cachar reported 16 positive on RT-PCR taking the day’s total to 81. On July 2, Cachar had reported 93 cases and that still remains the highest number of cases this month.

61 patients are currently admitted to the Silchar Medical College and Hospital and 35 are in Covid ICU. Seven patients have been put under a ventilator while 48 are on Oxygen support. Seven patients took admission to the hospital in the last 24 hours ending at 5:00 pm on July 23 and 13 got discharged.

83-year-old, Praimal Dev Bipin Paul Road Karimganj was admitted to the SMCH on July 20 and on July 23 he breathed his last.

In Cachar District, there are 273 active cases. It is worth mentioning here that the government of Assam recently relaxed the restrictions. The curfew is now imposed from 5:00 pm and the shops are allowed to remain open till 4:00 pm.

“Attributing the rise in the number of cases to the relaxation will be amateur. The new SOP has come in effect only a couple of days back. If it had any impact or not, we can only understand after analysing the situation on August first week. It takes 10 days at least,” said a doctor of SMCH who didn’t wish to be named.

“What we need to ensure is that the masks don’t slip and we don’t lower our guards. I can understand the frustration among general public, and the crowded waterfalls actually make sense. But at the same time, we should not rule out Covid as it is still very much there and can spread further,” the doctor added.

Because of the surge in the number of cases in Cachar, Barak Valley reported more than 100 cases yesterday. Karimganj reported 27 cases and Hailakandi reported 11 taking the total number of cases in Barak Valley to 119 on July 23.