Guwahati/Agartala, May 27 (IANS) With the return of thousands of natives from elsewhere in India, the spread of Covid-19 continued unabated in Assam, with its total climbing up to 774 cases, half of which are in two districts - Kamrup Metro and Golaghat, officials said on Wednesday.

While Assam registered 177 positive cases in the past 24 hours, the surge of Covid-19 also continued in other northeastern states - Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland, as thousands of people returned to their home states from southern and western India.

Health officials in Guwahati said that of the 774 coronavirus positive cases found so far in Assam, Kamrup Metro and Golaghat recorded 246 and 143, respectively.

While Assam's main city and commercial hub Guwahati falls in Kamrup Metro, Golaghat district is a major tea growing areas and part of the famous Kaziranga National Park falls in the district.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in a tweet, on Wednesday night, said: "Glad to share that a total 25 patients have been discharged today (Wednesday) in Assam after being tested COVID-19 negative twice."

With this, 87 patients have recovered so far in the state.

The Assam cabinet had on Tuesday made quarantine mandatory for people coming back to the state in view of the surge of positive cases after the return of over 60,000 people.

After the inter-state movement through road and rail networks was allowed and various restrictions lifted by the Union Home Ministry on May 4, Assam and other northeastern states witnessed a massive surge incases.

According to Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, with 34 fresh cases, Tripura's total count climbed to 232, including 162 Border Security Force troopers, officers and their family members.

Briefing the media, Law and Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath said that of the 1,154 people returned to the state from Maharashtra, 48 youths so far tested positive for the coronavirus.

Nagaland Health Minister S. Pangnyu Phom on Wednesday tweeted that five more returnees from Chennai tested positive. "With this, we have nine active cases in Nagaland. They all are undergoing proper medical treatment at COVID-19 hospitals," the minister said.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma said that five more persons, who have returned from Delhi and Haryana recently, tested positive, taking the total number of cases in the state to 20 with 7 active.
Twelve persons have recovered from coronavirus while one person, a veteran doctor, had died.

In Manipur, five more persons tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday, taking the total number of cases in the state to 44, with 40 active cases. Health officials in Imphal said all these people returned to the state during the past three weeks from different parts of India.

--IANS sc/vd