Assam government imposes night curfew from Sunday amid Omicron scare

GUWAHATI: Amid Omicron threat, Assam government has imposed night curfew from 11:30pm to 6am everyday from Sunday. Curfew will be relaxed on December 31st night.


Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was not in favour of stricter Covid restrictions on December 31 or January 1 nights that will dampen the spirit of New Year celebrations.

The

Assam State Disaster Management Authority

(ASDMA) on Saturday issued a revised and consolidated directive for both rural and urban areas which will remain in force with effect from 6am of Sunday, until further orders. While the night curfew will be from 11.30pm to 6am across the state, for Omicron specific regulation, the directive said that all district magistrates, SPs, and all other authorities concerned will be responsible for ensuring Covid appropriate behaviour in all public places for containment of the virus.

"All the work places, business/commercial establishments, dine in restaurants, hotels, dhabas and other eateries, takeway of food items from restaurants/dhabas and other eateries, opening of sale counters, showrooms etc. of cold storages and warehouses, shops dealing with groceries, fruits and vegetables, dairy and milk booths, will open up to 10.30pm," read the order.

Regarding open spaces for meetings and gatherings, it stated that the jurisdictional district disaster management authorities (DDMAs) will have to fix the limit of gatherings depending on Covid situation in their respective districts. "Regarding closed venues, the gathering is allowed up to 50 per cent of the seating capacity of the hall, auditorium etc," ASDMA said.

Religious places are allowed to operate with 60 fully vaccinated persons per hour for iconic places and 40 fully vaccinated persons per hour for other religious places. The directive said cinema halls will continue to operate with 50 per cent of seating capacity of fully vaccinated viewers and observance of Covid appropriate behavior.

All district magistrates, superintendents of police have been asked to ensure deployment of sufficient number of teams for keeping utmost vigil at public places and for enforcing Covid appropriate behaviour so as to avoid any possibility of surge in Covid-19 cases.

Any persons violating the measures will be liable to be proceeded against as per provisions of Section 51 to 60 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, besides legal action under Sec 188 of IPC 188 and other legal provisions as applicable, read an ASDMA release. Any person not wearing a mask or spitting in public places will be fined to the tune of Rs 1,000.