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Assam cabinet makes institutional quarantine mandatory for all returnees
Assam already has a strict policy, which requires all returnees to spend a total of 14 days in quarantine, with the first few days in an institution until the test results are available and the rest in isolation at home.
Assam cabinet on Tuesday decided that all those stranded people, who are returning to the state following the easing of lockdown restrictions from May 4, will have to undergo institutional quarantine for the first few days because of a spike in coronavirus disease (Covid-19) positive cases in the past few days.
The state has reported 598 Covid-19 positive cases till Tuesday afternoon.
Assam already has a strict policy, which requires all returnees to spend a total of 14 days in quarantine, with the first few days in an institution until the test results are available and the rest in isolation at home.
“On Tuesday, the cabinet approved the enforcement of strict quarantine for all returnees for 14 days, as we don’t want community spread of the viral outbreak,” parliamentary affairs minister Chandra Mohan Patowary told media persons after the meeting.
In a bid to help folk artistes, who are facing economic hardships because of the ongoing lockdown restrictions, which have been imposed since end-March to contain the spread of the pandemic, the cabinet also decided to provide Rs2,000 to each of them for three months, beginning April.
“The cabinet directed all the deputy commissioners to stock adequate relief materials and repair embankments, as the onset of floods is likely from July,” Patowary said.
Ministers, who are in charge of Covid-19 management in the state’s 33 districts, have been entrusted with the additional responsibility of overseeing flood relief work in those districts, Patowary added.
