New SOP for COVID-19 Management Tomorrow, Guwahati May Witness Stringent Measures

GUWAHATI: Assam government to come up with new Covid standard operating protocol (SOP) on Thursday, said state health minister Keshab Mahanta.

Notably, the previous guidelines are effective till today, hence the state government may come up with the new SOP on July 15.

Mahanta said, "Health department has submitted the current Covid status before the state government and the chief minister is going to take the call on issuing the new SOP. Since the previous guidelines are effective till today, a new SOP may come up tomorrow."

Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that SOP for Guwahati may change if the daily Covid caseload goes higher than 250. On Tuesday, the city recorded 258 cases.

Sarma had said, "Since Guwahati is a big city so we want to make changes of SOP only if the numbers go beyond 250. Moreover, not all cases recorded in Guwahati are from here. As many travels to the city, many Covid positive cases from outside the metro districts are recorded here."

Meanwhile, the Jorhat administration has extended lockdown in the district for two more days. The district administration extended lockdown in Jorhat till July 15 to contain the spread of COVID-19.

During the lockdown, all shops including retail, vegetable, and fruit shops except pharmacies will remain closed, an official notification stated. "The situation will be reviewed on 15/072021 for further necessary action," the notification read. Meanwhile, according to chief minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, the COVID19 situation in Assam has not improved enough to allow for inter-district movement of people.

"We have kept the inter-district travel suspended. We are not in a situation to open inter-district travel. The movement of people among the districts will lead to further transmission of COVID19 from one district to the other. This will take us back to the same situation we were in earlier. Only when the COVID19 infection rate comes down in the districts we will think about opening travel," added Dr. Sarma.

Also Read: COVID Lockdown Extended for 2 more Days in Jorhat, Assam

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