The Mizoram government has announced a 4-day complete lockdown in Aizawl Municipal Corporation (AMC) area commencing from Monday night to curtail the spread of novel coronavirus in the state.
The lockdown will continue till 4:30 am of August 21 (Friday), the government order issued on Sunday night said.
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The decision was taken at a meeting of concerned ministers, important officials, police officials and doctors chaired by health minister Dr. R. Lalthangliana on Sunday, an official said.
He said the meeting observed that the re-opening of economic activities and inter-state movement after July 31 has resulted in increase of public movement, which in turn led to detection of a significant number of Covid-19 cases among primary and secondary contacts and thus made the risk of community transmission extremely high in the state at this juncture.
The meeting felt necessary to curtail economic activities and movement of people within the AMC area for a brief period to slow down the spread of the virus, the official said.
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The government order said that complete lockdown will be observed in AMC area from 8 pm of August 16 and 4:30 am of August 21 to facilitate collection and testing of swab samples of primary and secondary contacts at different localities in Aizawl, to undertake swift and extensive tracing and testing of people, who came in contact with Covid-19 infected persons and carry out random testing among high risk groups within AMC area.
The order prohibited incoming movement to AMC area from other places and outgoing movement from the state capital barring those, who obtained movement permission from state home department and who obtained prior permission from Aizawl district Deputy Commissioner in medical emergencies, including death of family members or relatives.
However, Lengpui airport will remain open during the total lockdown.
Only essential commodities will be allowed to import or enter the state capital and only shops dealing with essential commodities are allowed to function with the arraignment made by the DC and local level task forces, the order said.
All educational, training institutes and religious places will continue to be closed and the upcoming offline examination of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees will be postponed in the AMC area. However, online examination is allowed.
No residents other than those exempted are allowed to step out of their homes and funerals with more than 50 attendees is strictly prohibited during the lockdown, the order said.