State prisons step up efforts to tackle second wave of COVID-19 in Assam

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: As the number of cases of the second wave of COVID-19 is surging in the State, the Office of the Inspector General of Prisons, Assam has geared up its efforts to tackle the outbreak.

In the first wave of COVID-19, prisons across the State were largely affected and more than 2,500 inmates tested positive for the dreaded virus. Now, as the threat of the coronavirus infection looms large, the Inspector General of Prisons has taken various initiatives to avoid the situation that prevailed in the first wave.

The Inspector General of Prisons has made COVID testing mandatory for the existing inmates and the new ones. According to sources, quarantine centres inside the prisons are being rebuilt and every accused will have to go through Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) before entering a prison. Those who are detected COVID-19 positive will be quarantined.

It is to be noted that there are 31 prisons across the State which include six Central jails, 22 district jails, one special jail, one open air jail, and one sub jail.

On April 13, as per the morning counting 8,857 inmates were present in the prisons.

Meanwhile, sanitizers have been distributed across all the prisons.

By following directives of the government, RATs are being conducted by the district administration across all the prisons.

From April 10-13, a total of 4,955 tests were conducted across 16 prisons of the State. However, no positive case was detected.

According to reports, 1318 tests were conducted in Guwahati Central Jail, 520 tests in Dibrugarh Central Jail, 277 tests in Tezpur Central Jail, 248 tests in Silchar Central Jail, 424 tests in Nagaon Central Jail, 278 tests in Nagaon Special Jail, 330 tests in Golaghat District Jail, 140 tests in Mangaldai District Jail, 300 tests in Nalbari District Jail, 304 tests in Dhubri District Jail, 222 tests in Goalpara District Jail, 86 tests in Hailakandi District Jail, 230 tests in North Lakhimpur District Jail, 50 tests in Diphu District Jail, 53 tests in Hamren District Jail, and 164 tests in Dhemaji District Jail.

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