Assam government on Tuesday issued revised guidelines for air passengers making it mandatory for all incoming passengers to undergo Covid-19 tests.
“There will be no exemption from the tests in case of any passengers arriving in Assam and all earlier standard exemptions in this connection are hereby withdrawn,” said the order issued by Samir K Sinha, principal secretary, health.
An order issued by the state’s health department stated that all air passengers arriving at any airport in Assam will have to undergo a mandatory Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) on arrival. No fees will be charged for the tests. Earlier, tests were mandatory only for passengers arriving from Bengaluru and Mumbai.
If the test result comes positive, the passenger will have to undergo home isolation or get admitted to a hospital depending on his/her condition. If it comes negative, the passenger will have to undergo an RT-PCR test at the airport by paying ₹500.
After the RT-PCR sample is collected, the passenger will leave the airport premises and stay in quarantine till the time the test result is out. Passengers will be hand-stamped after RT-PCR tests.
If the test result is positive, the passenger will have to spend time in home isolation or get admitted to a Covid-19 facility depending on their condition. If the result is negative, they can continue their normal activities subject to observing Covid-19 safety protocols.
{{/usCountry}}If the test result is positive, the passenger will have to spend time in home isolation or get admitted to a Covid-19 facility depending on their condition. If the result is negative, they can continue their normal activities subject to observing Covid-19 safety protocols.
{{/usCountry}}The order stated that residents of north-eastern states, other than Assam, who are arriving at any airport in the state and are directly travelling to any other NE state shall be exempted from tests provided they are asymptomatic.
All passengers of intra-Assam and inter-north eastern routes will also be exempted from tests. Both categories of passengers will need to provide their addresses in NE before leaving the airport.
The new guidelines will come into effect immediately and anyone found violating will be persecuted under provisions of the Disaster Management Act and Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code, the order read.
Assam has been witnessing a steady increase in the number of Covid-19 cases in recent days. On Monday, the state recorded 583 new cases. At present, there are 2,387 active cases in the state.