The Assam government has announced a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the state amid rising cases of the new variant of Covid-19, Omicron.
The state health minister Keshab Mahanta on Saturday announced the new SOP while addressing a press conference in Assam's Kaliabor.
The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) also released an official notification laying out the directives for New Year celebrations.
The release dated December 25, read, "The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) has issued a revised and consolidated directive today for both rural and urban areas which will remain in force w.e.f. 6 AM of December 26, 2021, until further orders".
The key features of the new SOP:
The night curfew will be from 11.30 PM to 6 AM across the state. However, this curfew will not be applicable on December 31, 2021.
All the workplaces, business/commercial establishments, Dine-in Restaurants, hotels, Dhabas, and other eateries, the opening of sale counters, showrooms, etc. of cold storages and warehouses, shops dealing with groceries, fruits and vegetables, dairy and milk booths, will open up to 10.30 PM.
Regarding open spaces for meetings/gatherings, the jurisdictional DDMAs shall fix the limit of gatherings depending on the COVID situation in their respective districts. Regarding closed venues, the gathering is allowed up to 50 percent of the seating capacity of the hall, auditorium, etc.
Religious places are allowed to operate with 60 fully vaccinated persons per hour for iconic places and 40 fully vaccinated persons per hour for other religious places.
Cinema halls continue to operate with a 50 percent of seating capacity of fully vaccinated viewers and observance of COVID-19 appropriate behaviour.
For Omicron-specific regulation, all District Magistrates, Superintendent of Police, and all other authorities concerned shall be responsible for ensuring COVID Appropriate Behaviour in all public places for containment of COVID-19 virus.
All District Magistrates, Superintendent of Police will ensure that the people, who visit the above-mentioned places, strictly follow COVID Appropriate Behaviour. They will deploy sufficient number of teams for keeping utmost vigil at public places and for enforcing COVID Appropriate Behaviour so as to avoid any possibility of a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Any persons violating these measures will be liable to be proceeded against as per provisions of Section 51 to 60 of the District Disaster Management Act, 2005, besides legal action under Sec. 188 of IPC 188 and other legal provisions as applicable.
Any person not wearing a mask or spitting in public places shall be fined to the tune of 1000/- vide ASDMA's earlier Order No. ASDMA.