Starting today, curfew will be in place from 12 noon instead of the current 2 PM and all shops and business establishments would shut by 11 AM instead of the present 1 PM, the Assam government said in its new COVID-19 SOP.
The curfew will be in place from 12 noon to 5 AM the next morning. The new SOP came into effect from 5 AM today (May 16, Sunday). Other restrictive measures like plying of odd-even numbered cars, closure of government and non-government offices, educational institutes, weekly markets continue to remain the same. The exemptions announced earlier continue.
The new set of SOP has come amid talks of a lockdown in places like Guwahati, Dibrugarh and Tinuskia. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said in Tinsukia earlier in the day today that a decision is likely to be taken on whether to impose lockdown in these three locations after assessing the COVID situation in these places in the next 4-5 days.
He had earlier mentioned that the government is not looking at putting the entire state under lockdown.
Guwahati and Dibrugarh are topping the list of COVID positive cases. Kamrup Metro that includes Guwahati city has reported 1,107 positive cases followed by 352 cases in Dibrugarh, Kamrup (Rural) reported 323 cases, Nagaon 224 and Tinsukia reported 187 positive cases on May 14.
As many as 20 COVID deaths were reported in Kamrup Metro, Kamrup (Rural) reported 5 deaths, 6 deaths in Tinsukia, 2 deaths in Nagaon and 4 deaths in Dibrugarh in the last 24 hours.
