GUWAHATI: Assam health department has issued guidelines to all district authorities to ensure that namaaz are held in homes, public pujas are held with not more than 10 devotees, marriage ceremonies take place without guests to prevent any hidden infected person from pushing the state from zero COVID-19 case to a stage III state.To prevent stage III from happening, that is when the coronavirus carrier mingles in the community, the health department has also ordered screening with thermal thermometers of not just foreign air travelers, but every flight passengers at all the airports in the state, all passengers travelling Rajdhani express at the station where they disembark and all people entering into the state from Bhutan and Bangladesh at the land ports.“The greatest challenge is fighting stage III. We may be in a comfortable position now with zero COVID-19 case but what if there are infected persons moving around then what do we do. It is difficult to identify them among 3.30 crore population. The only weapon with us is social separation,” health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told the deputy commissioners of all districts via video conference on Tuesday. “Stop gatherings at any cost,” was Sarma’s two-word instructions to the DCs.“From today, the administration in all districts, barring Bodo Territorial Area District (where campaign for April 4 council polls are on) should stop all socio-religious gatherings, public meetings. If there is a puja, let there be only 10 people in attendance, namaaz can be offered at masjids and homes, but we are saying that let it be restricted to home only,” Sarma told the DCs.He added, “I am not asking you (DCs) to send police and Crpf to masjids and temples to enforce these instructions…make the people understand the necessity of these restrictions…next one month is very critical. Under no circumstances we should not allow a gathering of more than 25 people.”“If someone is having his marriage ceremony, tell them that hold the ceremony without guests and you can have your reception at a later date. Birthdays are not allowed, no social gatherings, not even the addas in front of shops and shopping malls or roadside eateries…all probable spots for social gatherings have to be stopped immediately,” Sarma.Sarma appealed, “Stage III can be avoided If administration, social organizations, village headmen fight together. We are not even in stage I or stage II by God’s blessings or other causes and we have time to ensure that we do not slip into stage III.”