GUWAHATI, July 19: Passengers from other Northeastern states will have to undergo RT-PCR tests upon arrival at airports and railway stations in Assam, state health minister Keshab Mahanta informed while announcing the revised COVID standard operating procedures (SOPs) here on Monday.
“Even fully vaccinated passengers from other Northeastern states arriving at the airports and railway stations will have to undergo RT-PCR tests upon arrival. However, the tests for passengers administered two doses of COVID vaccine will be free of cost,” Mahanta said.
The state health department had in this regard issued a notification last Friday, withdrawing the earlier exemption of such tests for fully vaccinated passengers at airports and railway stations in Assam.
The notification was issued in view of COVID positivity noticed among “some” persons who have been administered with two doses of the vaccine.
Such a mandatory RT-PCR test norm was not applicable earlier for passengers arriving here from the other Northeastern states.
“However, a surge in COVID cases has prompted the governments in these states to enforce strict regulations to control the situation. Therefore, as a precautionary measure, we have made RT-PCR tests mandatory for passengers from these states upon arrival at airports and railway stations of Assam,” Mahanta said.
