Assam Govt reduces home quarantine period after discharge to 7 days; Rs 2,000 only to BPL families

Guwahati: In a major respite for the people discharged from hospitals after recovering from the dreaded COVID-19, the Assam Government has decided to reduce the home quarantine period after discharge from hospital to 7 days. Now, the Government shall only provide essential items worth Rs. 2,000 to families living below the poverty line, the elderly people, ailing, and the differently-abled, if deemed "necessary."

Earlier, the state government provided essential items worth Rs 2,000 to households of all COVID-19 positive patients who got discharged from hospital and had to complete a period of 14 days in-home quarantine.

"In partial modification of earlier orders, the Government in Health and Family Welfare has decided, that the essential items worth Rs. 2,000 for quarantined families will henceforth be provided to only families of the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category. However, Deputy Commissioners are authorized to extend this benefit to other families too like elderly, ailing, divyang, etc, if deemed necessary to mitigate hardship", wrote Samir Sinha, the Principal Secretary to the Assam Government's Health and Family Welfare department. According to Sinha, the Assam state government has already provided essential items worth Rs. 2,000 to 1,200 families so far.

Meanwhile, the COVID-19 tally in Assam is on the verge of touching the 30,000 case mark. The tally has reached 29,921 with 1,130 new cases reported on Friday, while the death toll climbed to 76 with six more casualties. Of the total cases, 8,081 are active and these patients are being treated in different hospitals and COVID Care Centres across the state. Nearly half of the COVID-19 cases (13,088) have been reported in the capital city of Guwahatio.