On Wednesday, April 22, around 300 passengers skipped the mandatory corona test at Silchar Airport in Assam. The travelers fled the scene without conducting the Covid test and now police are tracing them.
Amid the more dangerous and infectious second wave of coronavirus, the state government had revised the Covid safety rules. According to the norms, the passengers are meant to undergo Rapid Antigen Test and RT-PCR tests on arrival.
The Silchar Airport is small thus the testing is conducted at a nearby hospital named Tikol Model Hospital.
Sumit Sattawan, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Cachar district said, “On Wednesday, 690 people landed at Silchar. Some were exempt since they were transit passengers traveling to other northeast states. A total of 189 took the test- out of which six were positive.” He further added, “Regarding how they ran away and other details, we are still investigating what exactly happened.”
He has claimed that every passenger is traceable as the airport management has their details.
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The district administration has decided to lodge FIR against the passenger who fled away without testing. The FIR will be filed under Section 180 of the Indian Penal Code and the disaster management act for violating Covid protocols.
On April 21, the state Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has made it compulsory for every passenger arriving from plane or train will be home quarantined for seven days even if they test negative.
Cachar district has reported 48 new cases taking Assam’s tally up to 1,665 covid cases on Wednesday. Now, the state has 9.048 active cases in total.
Meanwhile, the country has reported more than 3 lakh cases on Wednesday, April 21.