Guwahati/Agartala, With two more coronavirus positive cases reported in Meghalaya, taking the number of such cases in the northeastern region (excluding Sikkim) to 48, with 34 from Assam, where so far nine people have been discharged from hospitals, ministers said on Friday.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma tweeted that two more cases tested positive late on Thursday night and both are family members of the first patient, a senior 69-year-old doctor, who died on Wednesday, two days after he was tested positive.

The deceased doctor, owner of a private hospital in Shillong, had no travel history except that his son-in-law, who is an Air India pilot, had been to COVID-19-infected countries and had returned home on March 22.

With the latest two positive cases, the total number of active cases in Meghalaya rose to eight after one death.

Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in a tweet on Friday afternoon said that from Golaghat Civil Hospital, four patients, including two women were discharged for 14-day home-quarantine, taking such number of people to nine.

"The ICMR (Indian Council for Medical Research) has approved facility at Tezpur Medical College as an accredited laboratory for testing of COVID-19. Now we have six testing labs (in Assam)," Sarma said in a separate tweet.

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu in a tweet on Friday evening said that the lone positive person of the state having been now labelled virus free has been discharged and sent to institutional quarantine for the next 14 days.

Arunachal Pradesh's Director General of Police R.P. Upadhyaya said the state police has been using drones to monitor the ongoing lockdown.

"Use of technology as force multiplier to serve the public better," the senior IPS officer said in a statement.

After launching teaching through Aizawl Doordarshan Kendra television channel, the Mizoram Board of School Education (MBSE) has decided to conduct the remaining Higher Secondary School Leaving Certificate (HSSLC) examinations from April 22.

An official release said the remaining HSSLC examinations of Arts, Science and Commerce streams would be held from April 22 to April 24 in all the (HSSLC) examination centres under the MBSE.

A Defence Public Relations Officer said that due to ongoing COVID -19 outbreaks, an Army recruitment rally at Happy Valley in Shillong scheduled from May 4 to 6 has been postponed and it would be conducted on October 5-8 at the same venue.

After one death in Assam, so far 34 positive novel coronavirus cases have been reported in Assam followed by eight in Meghalaya, two each in Manipur and Tripura, and one each in Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh.

Of the 48 people with positive cases, 34 had either attended the Tablighi Jamaat religious congregation in Delhi's Nizamuddin area last month or their close contacts had.