At least 2,599 people, who recently returned from different parts of the country, are currently put under quarantine in different parts of Mizoram, an official said on Thursday.
Of the 2,599 people, 1,965 are quarantined at institutional quarantine facilities, 445 at community quarantine facilities, 7 in hotels and 182 others are placed under home quarantine, the official said.
He said that the government and churches have for far set up 543 facilities to accommodate 14,358 people across the state.
Of these, there are 267 institutional quarantine facilities with a maximum capacity of 8,661 people, 270 community quarantine facilities with a capacity of 5,628 and 6 hotels with 69 capacities, he said.
According to the official, at least 169 local churches from various denominations have offered their halls to be used as quarantine facilities till Thursday.
Meanwhile, the state government issued Standard Operating Procedure to be followed in community quarantine facilities amid the shortage of institutional quarantine facilities.
Earlier the government has appealed to churches to offer their buildings to accommodate returnees as government-designated quarantine facilities might not be sufficient to accommodate all the returnees.
In the SOP issued by the government said that all the community quarantine facilities- church halls, school buildings and YMA halls will be manned by local or village level task forces in their respective areas under the supervision of district deputy commissioners.
Inmates will be quarantined in the facilities for 14 days and sharing of the room unless the separate room is available will be allowed for inmates with strict social distancing, the SOP said.
The community quarantine facilities should be maintained need and clean before the arrival of the inmates and the number of capacity should be decided depending on the availability of beds and toilets. Beds or sleeping places should be arranged with strict adherence to social distancing norms.
Each family could provide mattress, blankets and other sleeping materials to their relatives admitted in the facilities as per arrangement made by local or village level task forces, which will maintain a detailed record of the inmates- admitted and discharged, and submit a report to incident commander or zonal officer of their areas, according to the SOP.
During the quarantine period, no inmate is allowed to step out of the facility and visit others in the next room unless he or she shares the same room with other inmates.
All the inmates should also install ‘Aarogya Setu’ and COVlD-19 mobile application on their mobile phones.
Churches, localities and respective families can also provide food to the inmates through the local or village level task force, the SOP said.
In case of sickness or medical emergencies, inmates should immediately report to medics or medical helpline- 102/2318336/2323336.