Four more recovered Covid-19 patients were released from Golaghat civil hospital in Assam on Friday. With this, of the 34 positive cases recorded in the state so far, nine have been released while one died. Assam did not report any fresh case on Friday till the filing of this report.

In Golaghat, at least nine persons have tested positive. Of them, four were discharged as they tested negative four times successively. They were discharged in the presence of health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, his deputy Pijush Hazarika and others.

The hospital authorities hoped that the remaining five patients would be released by April 23.

“No threat from the Covid patients who have been finally declared negative and discharged from hospital. They are like usual people and to some extent, they are more powerful from the point of immunity,” Sarma said, urging people not to harbour negative thoughts against the patients discharged from the hospital.

He said, “We may conduct rapid tests in Golaghat if new cases come after April 23 but, at present, there is no such need. Apart from the quota of rapid testing kit we will receive from the central government, the state government has also placed an order for one lakh such kits.”

Regarding the doubts cast on the quality of the personal protection equipment (PPE) kits imported from China, Sarma said a majority of the medical equipment used in India to fight Covid-19 were imported from China. He said all other countries of the world were also procuring the kits from China. “Our doctors are satisfied with the kits we have imported,” he said. Assam has already imported 50,000 PPE kits from China.

Unprecedented security has been arranged in Morigaon district, declared a hotspot by the Centre, to ensure total lockdown. Deputy commissioner Rituraj Bora and superintendent of police Swapnaneel Deka are also in home quarantine since Thursday night after they were found to have come in contact with two persons who tested positive on Thursday. Both officials were operating from their official residences. Their personal staff and a few journalists who covered a meeting attended by the two positive persons are also under quarantine. Morigaon has six Covid cases in two minority-dominated belts, all having link with the religious congregation at Nizamuddin.

Sarma tweeted: “Contract history of DC/SP of Morigaon with the now turned positive person is more than 14 days old...Request my friends in Media not to speculate.”

Sarma later tweeted, “Happy to inform that DC/SP of Marigaon District have tested negative. It is a big relief for Team Marigaon and for us.”

In another major development, a letter mailed by deputy commissioner of police (North), Delhi police, Monika Bhardwaj, to the Hailakandi superintendent of police said that a Covid patient, a resident of Kapnarpar village of the district, had been found in Delhi. She said this verified the information received from the special branch.

She also asked the SP to make necessary verifications at his end “as there is a huge possibility that he may have infected his family members and contacts”. Health authorities here swung into action on Thursday evening. Sources said this person left for Delhi on February 22 and has not yet returned.

Meanwhile, all the swab samples of the 10 attendees of Guwahati Athgaon Kabarstan Masjid religious congregation from Hailakandi district have tested negative. “It’s a great relief for all of us,” said joint director, health services, Ramesh Chandra Dwivedy.

Hailakandi is one of the seven districts of Assam which falls under the non-hotspot category, the others being Cachar, Karimganj, Kamrup, Kamrup (metro), Lakhimpur and South Salmara-Mankachar.

Assam police have also stepped up their action against lockdown violators. They issued a number of guidelines on Friday, making face mask mandatory for people going out of their homes, banning pillion riding on two-wheelers and spitting in public places and restricting the number of people in a private four-wheeler to two (driver and one person in the back seat). In Silchar, 23 people were arrested on Friday for violating the lockdown.

Additional reporting by Ritupallab Saikia in Golaghat, Sanjoy Hazarika in Bokakhat and Satananda Bhattacharjee in Hailakandi