The Mizoram government on Friday announced a 7-day “total lockdown” commencing from 4 am of May 10 to contain the rising Covid-19 cases in the state.
The complete lockdown will remain in force till 4 am on May 17.
The order issued on Friday said that the government has decided to enforce “total lockdown” because it is felt necessary to impose more restrictions on the movement of people and certain activities to control and prevent the further spread of COVID-19.
Although inter-state border would remain open, returnees or visitors coming to the state should enter the state only through those entry points currently opened by the state government and if they tested negative for Covid they will be placed under mandatory home isolation for 10 days as self-monitoring, the order said.
The returnees can also opt for paid quarantine or community quarantine or government facilities if they have no good room for self-isolation.
They will go for an RT-PCR swab test after 10 days, it said.
Quarantine is not mandatory for people visiting the state for a short duration (lesser than 96 hours) provided they possess COVID negative certificates from ICMR recognized RT-PCR or Truenat or CBNAT labs and tested negative for Covid-19 through Rapid Antigen Test upon their arrival.
The Covid-19 certificates should not be older than 96 hours upon their arrival in the state.
According to the order, intra-state or inter-village movement is strictly prohibited except under exceptional or very essential cases.
Places of worship, educational institutions, public parks, picnic spots, movie theatres, gymnasiums, community halls, and restaurants, shopping complexes, malls, business shops having no permission and any other social gatherings shall be closed in all parts of the state during the total lockdown, it said.
Besides, all government offices barring health and family welfare, home, disaster management and rehabilitation, finance, information and public relations, civil aviation, district administrations and offices under Central government will be closed during the complete lockdown, it said.
As for people residing in Aizawl and other district headquarters, they are not allowed to come out of their homes during this period, the order said.
All district magistrates will impose night curfew in their respective district headquarters between 7 pm and 4 am, it said.
In Aizawl and district headquarters, shops dealing with essential commodities, vegetables and meats will be opened only on Thursday till 5 pm.
All economic activities are allowed to function normally under strict adherence to Covid-19 protocols outside Aizawl and district headquarters, the order added.
Aizawl and district headquarters are currently in lockdown mode.