Assam rules out home isolation for incoming passengers, institutional quarantine a must

As the number of Coronavirus cases in Assam crossed 600, the state government on Tuesday evening decided that home-quarantine will not be allowed to people coming from outside and they will be sent for institutional-quarantine. Earlier, releasing its own standard operating procedure (SOP), Assam became the first state to make 14-days quarantine mandatory for all passengers as air travel services resumed. State Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said that every traveller coming to the state will be quarantined - either home or institutional, depending on the symptoms. 

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Informing about the change in the guideline, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said that it is being taken in view of the rising cases in Assam, most of which are not home-grown but are from people coming from outside. A meeting of the Council of Ministers, chaired by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, decided that quarantine norms would be strictly enforced and it was decided that people coming from outside will be sent for institutional-quarantine and no home-quarantine will be allowed.

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Covid cases in Assam

Assam recorded 123 new COVID-19 positive cases on Tuesday, taking the total to 666 in the state, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. Twenty-three cases were reported tonight -- 21 from Kamrup (Metro) and one each from Nagaon and Darrang districts, the minister said.

Earlier in the night, 27 cases were reported, all from Golaghat. Twenty-one cases were detected in the evening with Karimganj reporting seven, Goalpara five,  Guwahati three, Nagaon two and Dhubri, Hailakandi, Udalguri and Lakhimpur one each. In the morning, 47 cases were reported -- 21 in Golaghat, eight in Morigaon, four in Lakhimpur, three in Goalpara, two each in Karbi Anglong, Nagaon and the Guwahati Medical College Hospital; while one case each was reported from Hojai and Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital here, the Minister said.

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