GUWAHATI: Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said that the state’s fight against COVID-19 has entered a decisive phase with several thousands of stranded people set to return to the state by rail from Wednesday.
“The next 15 days would be very crucial even as we have recorded better recovery rates. Already, 3597 persons have returned to the state since the Centre allowed inter-state travel from May 4, 2020. Besides, 3705 persons have returned to the state from other Northeastern states. So, as the first train from New Delhi carrying about 1000 passengers enters through state’s border tomorrow, the state would have to take guard for a bigger challenge,” Sarma told reporters here on Tuesday evening.
The minister however said that while those returning from the other Northeast states have been sent to quarantine in their respective districts, those who have come from outside the region have been screened and tested at the four zonal centres and almost all have so far tested negative and are being sent to home quarantine.
“We have been told yesterday by the Centre that the Delhi-Dibrugarh train, which would pass through several states with relatively higher COVID-19 positive cases, would run weekly. About 842 people would get down at Dibrugarh station, of which some would be taken back home by the Arunachal Pradesh government,” he said.
The minister further informed that under the community surveillance programme in the rural areas, as many as 7782 in about 10,000 villages have shown signs of fever.
“Our medical teams have to visit another 20,000 villages. Now since we already have such a high number of people who have to undergo tests for the virus, we have decided, after being advised by the Centre, that only symptomatic people entering the state would be tested from now on,” Sarma said.
“The asymptomatic people would therefore have to be in strict quarantine for 14 days in schools and colleges, etc across the districts, for which we have asked the PHE department to build toilets and arrange for water supply and other requirements. However, we would like to tell those coming back that the living standards may not be as expected. Hotels will not be available in all districts and therefore people must be prepared to cope with the difficulties,” he said.
