A 7-day lockdown has been announced in Aizawl and ten district headquarters by the Mizoram government to curb rising COVID-19 cases and local transmission in the state and to make avail COVID-19 testing and contact tracing.
The word ‘lockdown’ was not mentioned in the guidelines issued on Monday midnight, but it stated that no residents of the Aizawl municipal area and other district headquarters are allowed to step outside of their homes during the restricted period, which is until 4 am on April 26.
Mizoram has 4,995 covid cases. 91 new cases were detected in the past 24 hours, making the active case to 437. Mizoram’s death toll stands at 12.
According to the guidelines, public and inter-village movement or intra-state movement is permitted after taking permission from the concerned Village Level Task Force (VLTF) or Local Level Task Force (LLTF).
Vehicular movement has been restricted in the guidelines. The prevailing night curfew (from 8:30 pm to 4 am) will remain imposed in Aizawl and other district headquarters.
Shops selling essential commodities, eateries, vegetables, flowers, meat, construction materials and spare parts in the state capital and district headquarters are allowed to open based on the arrangement made by LLTF or VLTF, it said.
Besides, filling stations, motor workshops, cold storage and warehousing, data and call centre, carpentry workshop, steel fabrication workshop, bakery, tailoring shop, weaving shops and related shops are also allowed to be open with LLTF or VLTF’s arrangement, it said.
The LLTF or VLTF is responsible for uninterrupted supply of vegetables according to the guidelines.
During the period, religious places, educational institutions, public parks, picnic spots, movie theaters, gymnasiums, community halls, restaurants, shopping complexes, malls and any other amusement resorts or places will remain shut in all parts of the state.
However, school board examinations, all-India level, and other recruitment exams will continue as per schedule, it said.
Funerals and weddings can have fixed number of 30 attendees. Public gathering like birthday party, anniversary celebration, games and sports activities, book release function and other related social gatherings are banned in all parts of the state.
Lengpui airport and inter-state borders will remain open. People returning from states facing the new COVID-19 variant must undergo home isolation fora period of seven days after they test negative through Rapid Antigen Test post landing. After completion of seven days of home isolation, they would be tested with RT-PCR facilities.
Returnees from abroad or new Covid-19 variant affected states will have to be quarantined at designated facilities. However, if they have already stayed ten days in the country after they arrived from abroad and accordingly tested negative for Covid-19 while screening at entry points here, they will be allowed to go for seven days home isolation.
People who visiting the state for a shorter stay (not longer than 96 hours),need not go under quarantine if they have a Covid-19 negative certificate(not older than 96 hours), which has Specimen Referral Form (SRF) ID from ICMR recognized RT-PCR or Truenat or CBNAT labs.