The Mizoram government has announced a 7-day lockdown in Aizawl and 10 other district headquarters to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Though the order and guidelines issued on Monday midnight did not use the word “lockdown,” it said that no residents in Aizawl municipal area and other district headquarters should step out of their homes during the restriction period, which came effective from 4 as of April 20 to 4 as of April 26.
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However, movement of public and inter-village movement or intra-state movement is allowed with permission from the concerned Village Level Task Force (VLTF) or Local Level Task Force (LLTF), the guidelines said.
There are 11 districts, including Aizawl in Mizoram.
The guidelines said that vehicular movement is strictly restricted except for those exempted and the existing night curfew (from 8:30 pm to 4 am) will be enforced in a stricter manner in Aizawl and other district headquarters.
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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, filing stations, motor workshops, cold storage and warehousing, data and call centre, carpentry workshop, steel fabrication workshops, bakery, tailoring shops, weaving shops and related shops are also allowed to be open with LLTF or VLTF’s arrangement, it said.
However, vegetables and other goods are not allowed to be sold in market places and volunteers of LLTF or VLTF will make arrangements to ensure that people get an uninterrupted supply of vegetables, the guidelines said.
According to the new guidelines, religious places, educational institutions, public parks, picnic spots, movie theatres, gymnasiums, community halls, restaurants, shopping complexes, malls and any other amusement resorts or places will be closed in all parts of the state during the period.
However, school board examinations, all India level and other recruitment exams will continue as per schedule, it said.
The number of attendees at the funeral and wedding is fixed at 30.
However, any public gathering such as a 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 continue to be opened and all returnees from other states barring new Covid-19 variant affected states will require to undergo home isolation as self-monitoring for seven days provided they test negative through Rapid Antigen Test upon their arrival.
After seven days, they will be tested with RT-PCR facilities and if found negative they will not require further home isolation.
Returnees from abroad or new Covid-19 variant affected states will have to be quarantined at designated facilities.
However, if they already stayed 10 days in the country after their arrival 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.
Quarantine is not mandatory for people, who visit the state on a short stay (not longer than 96 hours) provided they possess a Covid-19 negative certificate, which has Specimen Referral Form (SRF) ID from ICMR recognized RT-PCR or Truenat or CBNAT labs.
The certificate should not be older than 96 hours upon arrival in the state.