Kota returnees to be screened, quarantined in Assam: minister

The 391 students coming back to Assam from Kota in Rajasthan will be screened on entering the state at Srirampur border and anyone with COVID-19 symptoms will not be allowed to proceed to Guwahati, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday.

It has been decided that the students, who are currently travelling back to the state, would be kept at the Sarusajai quarantine facility in Guwahati, the minister told reporters here.

"If, however, anybody is found to have fever or symptoms, they will not be allowed to travel further (from Srirampur). If there are no such cases, all will be kept at the quarantine facility in Guwahati," Sarma said.

Those with symptoms of coronavirus infection will be quarantined in Kokrajhar district bordering West Bengal. Swab tests will be conducted on the students on the fifth day and doctors will decide whether or not those testing negative can be discharged and allowed to spend the remaining nine days under home observation, the minister said.

The students, who have already been in quarantine in Kota, have not come into direct contact with any COVID-19 patient and so their quarantine period will be 14 days, he said.

It is 28 days for those who have come into direct contact of COVID-19 patients, Sarma clarified. The quarantine of the students are mandatory as they are coming from Rajasthan which is in the Red Zone and there is also the possibility of getting infected during the journey, he said.

Assam government is facilitating the return of the students in 17 buses against a charge of Rs 7,000 per head. The state government was initially not keen to bring them back and Sarma urged them in video conferences to stay back. "But we have to consider the fact that they are all teenagers and felt insecure when Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh governments brought back their students," the minister said on Friday.

Kota town in Rajasthan is a coaching hub where medical and engineering aspirants from different parts of the country go every year in large numbers. The Assam government requested the authorities of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal to allow their movement during the ongoing lockdown period.

A team of state government officials are monitoring their movement through GPS and also coordinating with the different state governments, Sarma said.