Jan 18 COVID Update: Huge spike in Assam; Cachar reports 474, Hailakandi 79, Karimganj 153; 2 dead in SMCH

Assam reported 8,072 cases on January 18 making it one of the biggest spikes in the number of COVID cases in recent times. Kamrup Metro remained the district with highest caseload with 1,996 cases followed by Dibrugarh with 551. From fourth position in terms of high caseload in the state, Cachar has moved to third position with 474 cases above Jorhat which reported 470 cases on Tuesday.

The National Health Mission Assam informed in its bulletin that 35 patients in Cachar have tested positive on RTPCR while 439 samples were tested positive on Rapid Antigen Test Kit. Hailakandi has reported 79 cases while the number of cases in Karimganj on Tuesday stood at 153.

Dr. Bhaskar Gupta, vice principal of Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH) informed that currently, there are 41 active patients admitted to various COVID wards. Two patients are in ventilator support while 13 patients are in Oxygen support.

Dr. Gupta informed, in the last 24 hours ending at 5:00 pm on January 18, two patients have died in the COVID wards of SMCH. 70-year-old Haradhan Goswami who was transferred from Hailakandi’s Monacherra has breathed his last on January 17 at 8:45 am. The patient was suffering from Acute Coronary Syndrome, Diabetes, Hypertension and Pneumonia and was admitted to the hospital on the same day.

Irongmara resident, 56-year-old Rina Choudhary was also declared dead on January 17, 9:45 pm. She too was admitted to the hospital on the same day. The patient was suffering from Acute Coronary Syndrome, Diabetes, Hypertension and Chronic Kidney Diseases.

Two patients died on the same day they were admitted which shows that patients are reporting to Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH) at the last moment. During the last wave too, it was noticed that the patients reporting at the eleventh hour were succumbing more.

As per the data shared by the Cachar Health Department, 469 samples have tested positive on January 18. This is a data spread across 24 hours starting from 12:00 noon. According to the data, a total of 1,837 active cases are there in Cachar and out of them, 1,680 are in Home Isolation and 157 are admitted to various hospitals.