DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand state government has fixed rates for COVID tests on border check-posts for those who arrive without negative test reports.
Om Prakash, chief secretary, Uttarakhand said, "The rate for antigen test has been fixed at Rs 800 while for RT-PCR test people will be charged Rs 2400. We are committed to check the spread and open the state so that the tourism sector, the backbone of the state, can thrive."
In case the person is tested positive, the authorities will admit him to a COVID-19 facility for further monitoring.
According to the Unlock 4.0 guidelines, people who are able to produce RT PCR/TrueNAT/CBNAAT test report within the duration of 96-hours from the time of travel with COVID-negative results will be exempted from institutional and home quarantine.
The fresh guidelines issued by the state government states that for inter-state travels, people coming to Uttarakhand will have to mandatorily register themselves on the Smart City web portal and the registration documents will be verified by the authorities at the border check posts.
Those coming from high load Covid-19 infected cities will have to undergo a period of 7 days in institutional quarantine and subsequently 7 days in home quarantine.
However, these people will have the option of choosing from a government institutional quarantine facility (non-payment basis) or a paid quarantine facility.
People arriving from other cities will only be home quarantined for 14 days.
The guidelines for people visiting Uttarakhand from other states for serious reasons including death in the family, serious illness, visiting old age parents/family have been exempted from institutional quarantine but they will have to mention this while they register in the state government smarty city portal.
The authorities will be following up and checking the genuineness of the given reason.
The people traveling from any of the 33 high load cities for more than 7 days for serious reasons as mentioned above will be exempted from quarantine. However, they are advised to stay at home and follow all safety norms.
The state government also maintained that the exemption for state and central government employees, executives, and workers of industrial establishments whether public or private remain the same as mentioned in earlier guidelines, on the condition that they obtain an authorisation letter from their organization and follow all the safety norms.
Apart from registration on the smart city portal of the state government, they will also have to upload the letter.
The Unlock 4.0 guidelines for Uttarakhand by the state government has relaxed norms for very important persons (VIPs) from the central and state government, judiciary, legislative members, pregnant women, and senior citizens from institutional quarantine.
Meanwhile, a record 1,637 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Uttarakhand on Sunday, taking the state's infection tally to 31,973, while 12 more patients died.
Dehradun district reported the highest number of 623 cases, Haridwar 318, Udham Singh Nagar 240, Nainital 211, Pauri 57, Uttarkashi 47, Pithoragarh 34, Champawat 32, Tehri 27, Almora 16, Bageshwar 13, Rudraprayag 12 and Chamoli seven, a state health department bulletin said.
Five of the fresh deaths were reported from AIIMS, Rishikesh, four from Haldwani's Sushila Tiwari Government Hospital, two from Doon Medical College and one from Mahant Indresh Hospital here, it said.
So far, 21,040 people have recovered and 122 migrated.
The state's death toll stands at 414 and the number of active cases is 10,397, the bulletin said.
(With PTI Inputs)