Govt plans to make institutional quarantine for 4 days instead of 7, home quarantine for 10 days: Himanta

May 31: Last 90 days we fought spirited battle against COVID-19. Seen many setting up shining examples of public service. Assam has developed courage and achieved the milestone to do 1,04,034 test, managing 1000 positive active patients and home coming of 2.5 lacs. Assam has developed capacity to test 10,000 people per day. Assam will definitely do 2 lakh test by 15 June. This was informed by State Health Minister, Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma during a press briefing at NHM office in Guwahati on Sunday evening.

In terms of tests, Assam has convincingly crossed Kerala, said the minister. He stated that till now 2,29,893 persons who have come from outside to Assam were either put under institutional quarantine or home quarantine. “This is one of the proudest moment for a state like Assam to boast of 2,29,893 put under quarantine. We have developed enough capacity now to handle 5000 COVID-19 cases in the state,” stated Dr. Sarma.

The minister further made a big announcement regarding the the revised quarantine facility. Very soon, instead of 7 days, persons will be put under institutional quarantine for only 4 days. After 4 days, he/she will be allowed to go for strict home quarantine for 10 days. This change will be introduced once when the labs are capable of providing the test reports within 4 days. He said that swab samples are collected from those entering Assam and only after swab collection, they are sent for quarantine centres.

“As long as quarantine system is robust, there is nothing to worry. We have crossed the critical state. Around 1 lakh more people are likely to enter Assam. We are all prepared for it,” said Himanta Biswa Sarma. The minister further said that except one or two cases, we have traced source of all COVID-19 cases. There is no question of community spread in Assam, asserted Himanta. He identified 3 states from which the maximum positive cases have resulted in Assam. He said, “People returning mainly from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Delhi are detected as COVID-19 positive.”

He also provided a comprehensive data of those who became positive after coming from different states. Himanta said, 312 persons tested positive after coming from Maharashtra, 333 from Tamil Nadu, 134 from Delhi, 111 from West Bengal, 57 each from Uttar Pradesh & Haryana, 24 from Karnataka, 25 from Telengana, 09 each from Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, 04 from Madhya Pradesh, 01 from Jharkhand and 01 from Saudi Arabia.