New Delhi: Jumping quarantine has now been made a non-bailable offence in Assam and cases will be registered against those found violating norms, state Finance and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said.
“Seven days of facility-quarantine and seven days of home-quarantine. During the period of home-quarantine, the entire household shall be put under home-quarantine and no family member can leave the house,” he said while addressing the media in Nagaon Friday.
“For the purpose of home-quarantine, we will give the families an assistance of Rs 2,000 for food and other supplies… If someone does not follow quarantine… we will have to file cases against them,” Sarma said.
Sarma also said village-level committees have been formed to look after implementation of home-quarantines.
With 49 new infections Friday, the state saw one of the highest jumps in the number of coronavirus cases in a single day. The total number of Covid-19 has gone up to 259 so far.
Manipur sets up quarantine centres for transgenders
In a first-of-its-kind initiative, Manipur has set up quarantine centres at Imphal East and Imphal West for transgenders, who returned to the state amid a nationwide lockdown.
The decision to have separate quarantine centres for transgenders is to ensure their “emotional security” during the pandemic.
Transgender Quarantine Centre opened at Government Ideal Blind School, Takyelpat is now ready to receive stranded Transgenders coming from other states.@COVIDNewsByMIB pic.twitter.com/VunYeFbyFQ
— N.Biren Singh (@NBirenSingh) May 21, 2020
Two such facilities have come up so far. One is at the Ideal Blind School in Imphal West’s Takyelpat, which can accommodate 24 inmates and is meant for those coming from cities falling under green zones.
The other one is at the Maria Montessori Higher Secondary school at Koirengei in Imphal East. It is for those returnees from the red zone areas.
The state government has also appointed K. Saroja Devi, deputy director for child programme, as the nodal officer to ensure smooth functioning of these centres.
Anushka Sharma’s Paatal Lok in trouble for ‘sexist slur’
Sikkim Congress chief Bharat Basnett has demanded an apology from actor and producer Anushka Sharma for an alleged sexist slur against the Nepali/Gorkha community in her web series Paatal Lok. Basnett also said the slur amounted to stereotyping of people from the Northeast.
He has asked for authorities concerned to stop/delete the “derogatory portion” from the series being aired on Amazon Prime Video.
The Gorkha Association in Arunachal Pradesh has also filed a complaint before the National Human Rights Commission against Sharma. It was filed by the All Arunachal Pradesh Gorkha Youth Association’s (AAPGYA) Namsai unit president Bikash Bhattarai. The complaint said the slur, used against a woman character in the second episode of the series, is a “direct insult to the Nepali-speaking people”.
An online petition has also started by the Bharatiya Gorkha Yuva Parisangh, demanding that Amazon mute the slur, blur subtitles and upload an edited video with an apology and disclaimer.
No morning assembly as Sikkim prepares to reopen schools
The Sikkim government has announced that schools will reopen on 18 June, but with restrictions.
State Education Minister Narendra Kumar Pradhan has said students from classes KG to 8 will not be allowed to attend classes.
There will also not be morning assembly sessions and no holiday on Saturdays. Strict adherence of government-prescribed social distancing rules are also to be in place. The government has said the final examinations will be held in February 2021.
Sikkim still remains the only state in the country without a single Covid-19 case. The state, however, is preparing itself for an outbreak. Its first ICMR-certified viral research and diagnostic laboratory was recently inaugurated at the STNM Hospital in Sochaygang.