Guwahati/Agartala : The return of natives from different parts of the country and Bangladesh has led to a surge in coronavirus cases in eight northeastern states to 1,586, including 1,219 active cases till Saturday night, officials said.
According to the health officials, Assam has 1,185 cases, including 1,015 active cases. Assam health officials in Guwahati said that 250 more people tested positive in the past 24 hours, the highest in a single day after the first confirmed case was reported in the state on March 31.
According to the officials, two of the 33 Assam districts -- Kamrup Metro (316) and Golaghat (177) -- account for 493 coronavirus patients.
While Assam's main city and commercial hub Guwahati falls in Kamrup Metro, Golaghat district is a major tea growing area and part of the famous Kaziranga National Park in the district.
In Tripura, Saturday's 17 new cases took the total to 271, including 163 Border Security Force troopers, officers and their kins. However, the state's active cases are 96 whereas three cases have migrated to other states.
In all, 106 stranded Indians had returned to Tripura on Thursday from Bangladesh, of which 10 tested positive on Friday and Saturday.
Officials in Agartala said the Bangladesh returnees are in institutional quarantine and would be released after repeated swab tests.
As many as 62 positive cases have been reported in Manipur so far, followed by 36 in Nagaland, 27 in Meghalaya, three in Arunachal Pradesh, and one each in Mizoram and Sikkim.
Authorities in northeastern states said that after inter-state movement through road and rail was allowed and restrictions lifted by the Home Ministry on May 4, the region, especially Assam, had registered a surge in coronavirus cases.
According to official estimates, little over one lakh natives had returned to the eight northeastern states, with Assam alone registering over 60,000 returness during the past three weeks.
With the resumption of commercial passengers aircraft flights from Monday, over 10,000 residents of northeast India returned from different parts of the country.