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Covid cases decline, Assam allows inter-district movement after 3 months
The new direction, which will come into force from 5am on August 18, is a part of the fresh SOPs that include decreasing curfew timings by an hour and lifting odd-even formula for vehicle movement
The Assam government on Tuesday decided to lift restrictions on inter-district movement of vehicles. The curbs were put in place three months ago to contain the spread of coronavirus.
The new direction, which will come into force from 5am on August 18, is a part of the fresh standard operating procedures (SOPs) that include decreasing curfew timings by an hour and lifting odd-even formula for vehicle movement.
“Inter-district movement of private vehicles and movement of people shall be allowed, except to and from Kamrup (Metropolitan) district. Inter-district movement of public transport will remain suspended for the time being,” said health minister Keshav Mahanta.
The state government had imposed restrictions on inter-district movement of vehicles on May 21 this year and only vehicles carrying goods and some categories of exempted people were allowed to travel from one district to another.
The new SOP reduces the present curfew timings of 6pm to 5am daily to 7pm-5am daily. “Meetings or gatherings in open spaces would be allowed for up to 200 persons. In closed spaces, 50% of the hall’s capacity or 200 fully vaccinated persons (whichever is lower) will be allowed to hold meetings,” Mahanta said.
For marriages and funerals, up to 25 persons will be allowed now. Religious places are allowed to open with entry of 20 fully vaccinated persons per hour --for iconic places such as Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati -- and 10 fully vaccinated persons for other places.
Resorts, hotels, and restaurants will be allowed to remain open till 6pm with 50% capacity. However, cinema halls and multiplexes will continue to remain closed.
The government directed that final year students of MBBS, engineering, nursing, aeronautical engineering etc. will be allowed to attend physical classes provided they all, and their teachers, are fully vaccinated.
Fully vaccinated passengers who can produce a recent RT-PCR negative test report will not be required to undergo and COVID19 test on arrival at any airport in the state. Government employees who have taken at least on vaccine dose have been directed to report for work regularly. Women employees with children below 3 years of age will be allowed to work from home.
Assam has been witnessing a gradual decline in the number of fresh Covid cases in recent weeks. The number of new cases recorded daily has dropped to around 700-800 and the test positivity rate (TPR) has also dipped below 1%. At present, the state has around 7,700 active cases.
