Nearly 25 personnel, including doctors, nurses and paramedical staff of Golaghat civil hospital, had to be placed under home quarantine on Tuesday, after treating a mentally-ill patient, who was among the 48 who tested positive on a day active Covid-19 cases rose to 110 in the Upper Assam district.

The hospital’s medicine branch was sealed and declared a containment zone.

Golaghat deputy commissioner Bibhash Chandra Modi said over 40 people, including 25 hospital staff (six doctors, six nurses, one ambulance driver and 12 other personnel), were put in home quarantine.

Their samples have been sent for testing as they were involved in treatment of a mentally-ill patient at the civil hospital, he said.

“Contact tracing is on and the number of quarantined people may go up as the patient had visited many government offices and public places,” Modi said.

A mentally ill person from Kachomari Merapani was admitted to the medicine department of Swahid Kushal Konwar Civil Hospital on May 22. He tested positive on Tuesday, triggering concern in the district which has registered 92 Covid-19 cases, most with travel history.

He hails from Bihar and might have a contact history with persons from Merapani, who tested positive on April 1.

He was found by village defence party members at a park in Kachomari. He was not able to provide any travel history.

Dr Ananta Baruah said there was no chance of the patient getting infected at the hospital as they had taken all possible measures to check the spread of the virus.

Most patients, who have tested positive since Monday, are residents of Merapani, Kachomari, Gamari and Nalani Pathar and returned from Chennai and Mumbai, among others.

They were later placed under institutional quarantine at two wedding halls in Golaghat.

Earlier, nine persons had tested positive but they have been discharged after testing negative.

District information and public relations in-charge officer Papu Gogoi said the patients are being shifted to the Covid-19 wing at Golaghat civil hospital, which has 120 beds at present.

Dr Dilip Rajbongshi, who looks after the wing, said most of the other positive patients are asymptomatic.

Additional reporting by Ritupallab Saikia in Golaghat