Dispur (Assam): The Assam government on Thursday mandated COVID tests at railway stations for passengers coming from outside the state.
In wake of a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, the Northeast Frontier Railway and the Government of Assam have undertaken this initiative. Henceforth, passengers coming from outside Assam must get their test done at the respective railway station itself.
Urging the people not to panic, the railway authorities said, "No train has been cancelled so far. At present, 80 trains are running under the Northeast Frontier Railway of which 27 are local passenger trains."
Read: Kerala to test 2.5 lakh people for COVID-19 on April 16, 17
On Wednesday, five people at Paltan Bazar Railway Station were detected COVID positive. Deba Saikia, in charge of COVID tests at the station, said at least seven trains arrive at the station from outside the state every day.
Read: Himachal CM announces Rs 1.5K ex gratia for Covid warriors
Bhaskar Bhattacharya, deputy in charge, said, "Arrangements are being made by the administration to send COVID-19 positive passengers to COVID hospitals. Hence, the possibility of reducing the number of trains cannot be ruled out if cases increase at an alarming rate."
Read: Yogi orders sanitisation of warehouses, cold storages
Assam's COVID-19 caseload mounted to 2,21,868 on Wednesday as 385 more people tested positive for the infection while three new fatalities pushed the death toll to 1,122, the National Health Mission (NHM) bulletin said.
