The Assam government on Saturday allowed 22 foreign tourists to leave after they had been quarantined for seven days on a cruise ship on the Brahmaputra river.
The authorities in eastern Assam's Jorhat district had them quarantined after a 76-year-old U.S. tourist, who had set sail in the same vessel, tested positive for COVID-19 in Bhutan on March 5.
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All the 22 from the U.K., U.S. and Australia, as well as the 34 crew members aboard the cruise ship, tested negative.
“This group had already spent seven days on the cruise ship when our medical team took the precautionary step. They were allowed to leave today (Saturday) after their quarantine period ended on Friday,” Jorhat Deputy Commissioner Roshni Aparanji Korati told The Hindu .
She said all of them took an Indigo flight from Jorhat to Kolkata from where they were likely to fly out of the country.
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On Friday, the administration in western Assam's Barpeta district kept a couple under house quarantine for 14 days. The couple from Assam, who work at the Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Medical College and Hospital in Barpeta town, had returned from Saudia Arabia on March 9.
"They have shown no symptoms for the disease but have been asked to stay at home on the basis of their travel history," said Dhrubajyoti Borah, the principal of the medical college and hospital.
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