Mizoram : 8-day complete lockdown lifted in Aizawl

Aizawl, Aug 24: Mizoram government on Monday lifted the eight-day complete lockdown in the state capital area to contain the spread of novel coronavirus and the restrictions on movement of goods carrying vehicles.

The complete lockdown in Aizawl municipal area had been imposed from 8 pm of August 16 to expedite contact tracing and facilitate random sample testing of persons who have high risk of exposure to COVID-19 infected patients. This was done after a sizeable number of local transmission cases were reported in the state with majority cases being found in the state capital.

The government order issued late Sunday night said the after the lifting of the lockdown on August 24 the guidelines issued on July 31 will be reinstated in the entire state.

According to the July order, the state government had announced partial lockdown across Mizoram till August 31. It had directed that business shops and commercial activities will function normally with strict adherence to social distancing. All educational institutions and coaching institutes will remain closed. However, training institutes under the csentral and state government will be allowed to open with strict adherence to the standard operating procedure issued by the Centre on July 3.

Though religious congregations and other large social gatherings continue to be prohibited, the government allowed morning devotion in churches, wedding ceremonies, funeral, anniversary celebrations, political and other social events with a maximum 50 attendees. Games and sports practice, book release function and other related events have also been allowed with maximum 25 attendees.

Night curfew will be force in all district headquarter towns between 8:30 pm and 4:30 am, the government had said in its July order. In its Sunday night order the government said that inter-state movement of vehicles carrying non-essential commodities will be resumed from August 24.

Earlier, the state government had banned the entry of vehicles carrying goods, barring those carrying essential commodities through Vairengte on the Mizoram-Assam border and Kanhmun on the border with Tripura following a surge in Covid-19 cases among truckers and their helpers. So far Mizoram has reported 918 Covid-19 cases, of which 760 were males and 158 were females, officials said. There are 457 active cases in the state, while a total of 461 people have already recovered, they added.