The Assam government has decided to go for “ruthless quarantine” of passengers coming from outside the state by all modes of transport, including air for keeping the novel coronavirus in check.
The decision came hours after Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri advocated a pragmatic approach to quarantining air passengers and insisted such measures were not required for short-haul domestic flights.
“Assam has had a sudden spike in COVID-19 positive cases since May 4 when the Ministry of Home Affairs allowed inter-State travel. In view of the grim situation because of cases, mostly imported from western and southern India, we have decided to go for ruthless quarantine with a humane heart,” Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Friday evening.
The elites and influential will not be spared the ruthlessness that entails a denial of phone and social media access, the Minister said.
“Assam now has 191 (increased to 199 later) positive cases, mostly after 37,000 people returned by road and train. This is just the tip of the iceberg with another 12 lakh are waiting to come and we are not firm about quarantining,” Mr Sarma said.
“All passengers will be quarantined, and we will get air passengers from three airports when domestic air travel starts on May 25,” he added.
Cash incentives
The Minister, however, said the ruthless quarantine policy will come with cash incentives.
“We have decided to stop payment-based quarantine with immediate effect. The government will bear the expenditure of up to Rs. 20,000 per quarantined person and all district heads have been asked to facilitate the payment,” he said.
A person at institutional quarantine will be entitled to a one-time payment of Rs. 500 for toiletries and up to Rs. 500 per day on food. The local authorities have been authorised to pay up to Rs. 2,000 per day for each person put up in hotels. “Any person who does not test positive will be allowed to go after seven nights in institutional quarantine but will have to be in home quarantine for the next seven days. For that, he or she would be given Rs. 2,000 once,” Mr Sarma said.
Zoning formula
The Health Minister also said the State government has decided to modify the standard operating procedures to not mark any district red or orange unless the number of positive cases touches 200.