OUR REPORTER AIZAWL, APRIL 20
The Mizoram government has imposed new guidelines in Aizawl and 10 other district headquarters to break the chain of rising Covid-19 cases and local transmission cases in the state.
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 7 days period, which came effective from 4 am of April 20 to 4 am of April 26.
The order was issued to felicitate Covid-19 testing and contact tracing.
However, movement of public and inter-village movement or intra-state movement is allowed with permission from 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 in Aizawl and other district headquarters will be enforced in a stricter manner.
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 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 workshop, bakery, tailoring shop, 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 arrangement to ensure that people get 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 attendee at 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 for 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 Covid-19 negative certificate, which has Specimen Referral Form (SRF) ID from ICMR recognised RT-PCR or Truenat or CBNAT labs.
The certificate should not be older than 96 hours upon arrival in the state.
All streets in Aizawl wore a deserted look on Tuesday as all shops were closed and due to scanty passerby.
Police said that the lockdown was respected by people but they could not strictly enforce rules as it was the first day.
They said that there were some people, who came out to the street without permission while some wearing half-pants and t-shirts came out with official identity under the pretext of going to offices.
Meanwhile, an official said that at least 74 people were fined for violating Covid-19 protocols in Aizawl on Tuesday.
(Source: The Mizoram Post Vol. 18 Issue 308 Aizawl Wednesday 21 April 2021 http://www.themizorampost.net/page-view?date=21-04-2121&page_no=1)