Assam imposes night curfew amid Omicron scare

Guwahati/Agartala, Dec 25 (IANS) After the Central government sounded an alert in different parts of the country on the Omicron variant of Covid-19, the Assam government on Saturday announced a night curfew across the state for an indefinite period, officials said.

An official of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said the night curfew would be enforced from 11.30 p.m. in the night to 6 a.m. in the morning across the state.

However, the night curfew would not be applicable on December 31 to allow people to attend functions related to New Year celebrations.

An ASDMA statement said that all the workplaces, business, commercial establishments, dine-in restaurants, hotels, dhabas and other eateries, take-away of food items from restaurants and dhabas and other eateries, opening of sale counters, showrooms, cold storages and warehouses, shops dealing with groceries, fruits and vegetables, dairy and milk booths, will remain open till 10.30 p.m. in the night.

It said that regarding open spaces for meeting and gathering, the jurisdictional district authorities shall 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 and auditorium. 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.

Cinema halls continue to operate with 50 per cent of seating capacity of fully vaccinated viewers and observance of Covid-19 appropriate behaviour. For Omicron specific regulation, all District Magistrates, Superintendent of Police, and all other authorities concerned shall be responsible for ensuring Covid Appropriate Behaviour in all public places for containment of Covid-19 virus.

The district authorities would deploy a 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, the statement said.

Meanwhile, the Tripura government has also alerted the people on the new variant of the Covid-19.

Tripura Information and Cultural Affairs Minister Sushanta Chowdhury said that after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a review meeting on the Omicron variant earlier this week, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and Chief Secretary Kumar Alok held two review meetings to examine the state's preparedness.

Chowdhury, who is the government's spokesman, said that the state government has alerted the people on the Omicron variant. No Omicron variant case was found in Assam and any other northeastern state yet.