Assam exempts fully vaccinated travellers from mandatory Covid testing

The Assam government on Tuesday exempted fully vaccinated incoming people carrying the latest COVID-19 negative report from mandatory testing for the virus on arrival in the state.

The order will come into immediate effect, but the exemption will not be applicable for symptomatic passengers, a notification issued by the Health and Family Welfare department said.

All incoming passengers who have been vaccinated with two doses of COVID-19 vaccine will be exempted from mandatory testing on arrival at airports, railway stations, road border points, etc, it said.

The passengers must possess a negative COVID test report taken within 72 hours of their arrival in Assam, it added.

However, passengers who are symptomatic shall have to undergo mandatory RT-PCR testing at their own cost on arrival at airports, railway stations, etc. in Assam," the notification.

The exemption has been given in view of decreasing number of new COVID-19 positive cases in the country as well as the state and growing number of fully vaccinated people, it added.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Health and Family Welfare Minister Keshab Mahanta said there has been some requests regarding COVID-19 testing at airports and it was decided to do away with the mandatory test for fully vaccinated travellers.

The Assam government had on June 25 this year also issued an order exempting air and train passengers from mandatory testing if they were fully vaccinated.

But the order was withdrawn on July 15 in view of detection of COVID-19 cases among fully vaccinated people and testing was made compulsory once again.

Continuous screening of all incoming passengers at airports and railway stations is being conducted in the state since the first wave of COVID-19 last year.

Altogether 758 people tested positive for COVID-19 in the state on Monday, pushing the total number of infections to 5,79,899, while the death toll has reached 5,502 with 10 deaths in the last 24 hours.

The COVID-19 recovery rate in the state stands at 97.49 per cent.