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Assam’s biggest hospital closes as PG student tests Covid-19 positive
Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma made the announcement on Twitter on Friday morning after the student was found positive for Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes the coronavirus disease.
The Assam government has closed the state’s biggest hospital, Guwahati Medical College Hospital (GMCH), for new patients after a post-graduate (PG) medical student was among the eight new Covid-19 positive cases detected on Thursday.
Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma made the announcement on Twitter on Friday morning after the student was found positive for Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes the coronavirus disease.
“A PG student at GMCH has tested Covid positive last night. Consequently, we have to screen everyone who came in contact with him and sanitize the entire GMCH premises....we have to close the hospital for new patients for next few days,” Sarma tweeted.
“Although we are closing the hospital for new patients, special arrangements will be in place for patients already admitted and collection of new swab samples. Soliciting cooperation and understanding from all in the interest of public safety,” he added.
The GMCH hostel where the doctor was staying and another hostel have been declared as containment zones, and all residents asked to stay indoors.
Three persons in Guwahati and four more in Silchar, too, tested positive, taking the state’s tally to 53 cases.
The new cases came to light after one of the passengers, a notorious car thief from Dhekiajuli in Sonipur district, was tested positive. All other passengers of the bus and drivers have been put in quarantine facilities and 11 areas in Silchar declared as containment zones.
“The bus reached Silchar with permission from district magistrate of Ajmer. No social distancing norms were followed as it carried 42 passengers,” Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Thursday.
“While other passengers were asked to be in home quarantine, swab samples of one were taken as precaution. His samples tested positive. The person has several police cases registered against him,” he added.
The incident has led Assam government to revise its strategy of home quarantine for people returning to the state following relaxations allowed by the Union home ministry. Earlier only those who showed symptoms were to be placed in facility quarantine or tested for Covid-19.
“From now all persons returning from red zones in other parts of the country will be put in compulsory facility quarantine for at least three days (even if they are asymptomatic) till results of their swab tests are available,” said Sarma.
