Modified Standard Operating Procedures issued for persons arriving in Assam

* Though COVID-recovery rate has improved yet the death rate has not come down: Health department

GUWAHATI: In partial modifications of the 'Standard Operating Procedure' (SOP) for persons arriving in Assam from outside the State, the Government of Assam has issued fresh directives.

The orders state that any person — who has undergone a RT-PCR COVID-l9 test within a period of 72 hours prior to his/her arrival in Assam and if his/ her test result is negative — is not required to undergo the mandatory COVID-19 test or go for quarantine on his/her arrival in Assam. However, this exemption is subject to production of satisfactory documents and verification of the test result on the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) portal.

Any person who travels to any location outside Assam and returns to the State within 24 hours of departure also need not undergo the mandatory COVID-19 test or quarantine.

Moreover, children below 10 years of age arriving in Assam are exempted from undergoing the mandatory COVID-19 test, subject to the condition that the child is asymptomatic. However, a parent or guardian may opt to get his/her ward tested for COVID-19 at the designated testing centre, on voluntary basis.

The order also states that persons belonging to the following categories are exempted from the COVID-19 testing and quarantine, subject to the compliance with COVID-1 9 hygiene and social distancing norms during their period of stay in Assam. These persons include foreign dignitaries or diplomats belonging to any Embassy or Diplomatic Mission in India on an official visit; officials of multilateral funding agencies like World Bank, ADB, and JICA among others on an official visit; officials of investigation/ intelligence/ agencies such as the National Investigation Agency, Central Bureau of Investigation, Enforcement Directorate, Intelligence Bureau etc. on official/ covert visit; as well as officials of the Income Tax Department on official visits.

STATE'S COVID CURVE: Meanwhile, Health sources informed that as on date with 95 per cent recoveries, Assam ranks second in the COVID-recovery rate among the States of India. As a result, the active cases have also come down. In September 2020, there were 36,000 active cases. As on October 31, 2020, the State had only 10,421 active cases.

Sources, however, added that the death rate due to the infection has not slid across the State. They pointed out that the reason for this is that many COVID-19 patients report at the health centres only when their condition deteriorates. Till October 30, the death rate among the COVID-19 patients in Assam was 0.45 per cent.

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Also read: India's Corona curve: Total cases 80,88,851, fresh cases 48,648