ITANAGAR, Jul 26: The health department has updated the SOP for truck drivers and their attendants, as per which the driver/attendant who tests positive for Covid-19 will be shifted to the Covid care centre (CCC) of the point of entry (PoE) district and will have to follow the SOP for Covid-19 positive cases.
According to the revised SOP issued on 25 July, all drivers and attendants shall undergo mandatory rapid antigen tests at the PoE before entering the state.
In case a truck driver/attendant tests negative and is asymptomatic, they may be allowed to enter the state and proceed to their duties, following due precautions of social distancing, compulsory wearing of masks, hand hygiene, etc. They should leave the state after unloading materials.
If a person is negative on RDT Ag but is symptomatic, RT-PCR/TrueNat test must be conducted for confirmation.
The department also called for a replacement driver to be arranged for by the owner, department or project agency concerned from within the state, or a driver who has a negative RDT Ag/RT- PCR/TrueNat certificate not more than five days old.
Any truck driver/attendant possessing a valid negative RDT Ag test report, or a negative report issued by an authorized ICMR RT-PCR/TrueNat laboratory at the PoE, may be allowed entry if the report is not more than five days old.
On Saturday, residents on Assam’s side of Banderdewa had staged a protest, demanding that truckers who test positive for Covid-19 at Arunachal’s PoE be treated in Arunachal instead of being sent back to Assam.
The protestors had warned that they would stop vehicles carrying essential goods at Narayanpur in Assam if the Arunachal government did not take care of entrants, especially truckers who test positive at the PoE.
