OUR REPORTER AIZAWL, MAY 4
Mizoram stands second in Covid-19 spike in NE after Assam
At least 198 people, including 24 personnel of security forces, have tested positive for novel coronavirus in Mizoram, pushing the state’s Covid19 caseload to 6,556, an official said on Tuesday.
76 cases were confirmed at Zoram Medical College’s RT-PCR lab, 2 at TrueNat facilities and 120 cases were detected through Rapid Antigen Test, he said.
Of the fresh cases, Aizawl district reported the highest at 148, followed by Siaha district, which reported 31 cases (out of which 30 were found during random test), he said. Kolasib district reported 9 cases, Serchhip and Saitual districts reported 2 each, Lunglei district -4 and 1 case each was reported from Mamit and Lawngtlai districts. 22 personnel of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), 2 Border Security Force (BSF) jawans and 4 healthcare workers were among the newly infected people, the official said. 43 patients have travel history, while the rest were found to have locally contracted the infection.
Of the 198 patients, 58 have developed symptoms of Covid-19.
Mizoram now has 1,371 active cases, while 5,168 people have recovered from the virus.
The Covid-19 death toll in the state is 17. The state has conducted 3,13,575 samples test till date, including 3,517 on Monday.
State immunisation officer Dr. Lalzawmi said that 2,13,526 people have been administered the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine till Monday and 46231 of them have received both the doses. Meanwhile, the state government has issued revised lockdown guidelines on Monday for Aizawl and other district headquarters to ensure complete shutdown of all nonessential activities to break the chain of Covid-19 transmission. The guidelines would remain in force till 4 am of May 11. No resident in Aizawl municipal area and other district headquarters should step out of their homes during the lockdown, while intra-state movement or travelling outside the state will be allowed under exceptional or very essential case, the order said. 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 another social gatherings shall be closed in all parts of the state during the lockdown, it said.
From now on, shops dealing with essential commodities, fish and meat, vegetables and fruits, seeds, construction materials, animal feeds, puncture works, cold storage and warehousing and e-commerce and home delivery will be open only on Saturday between 10 am and 2 pm in Aizawl and district headquarters.
Secretaries or heads of departments will make detailment order of office attendees to the smallest limit and employees, who do not attend office, must work from home, the order said. Mizoram has registered the second-highest Covid-19 infection rate in the Northeast after Assam since recently, a minister said on Tuesday.
In his statement on Tuesday, state health minister Dr. R. Lalthangliana said the state now is in critical condition due to the spurt in Covid19 cases coupled with facility crunch. He said that Mizoram has the least Covid-19 cases and fatalities in the country during last year till March this year.
However, the state registered a spike in Covid-19 cases since April this year, which prompted the state government to imposed stringent guidelines to curtail the rising Covid19 transmission, he said.
While the number of Covid-19 detected in March was only 55, the state reported 1,655 cases in April and at least 425 cases were detected within three days in May, he said. He also said that at least 4 people have succumbed to the infected in recent weeks, pushing the total death toll to 17.
“Mizoram now stands second in term of Covid-19 infection rate in the Northeast after Assam. We are now in critical condition and there is a danger of the situation going out of control if this trend continues,” Lalthangliana said. According to the minister, community spread has taken a very deep ground in the state as even rural villages are no more safe now.
He urged the people to respect the lockdown guidelines, social distancing and other Covid-19 protocols.
Starting from Monday, the government has currently imposed lockdown in Aizawl and other district headquarters to break the chain of local transmission in the state. The lockdown will remain in force till 4 am of May 11.
Police said that the people strongly respected the lockdown as streets in Aizawl and other district headquarters wore a deserted look on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Mizoram Kohhran Hruaitute Committee (MKHC), a conglomerate of major churches in the state on Tuesday called on chief minister Zoramthanga to impose stricter guidelines akin to complete lockdown to curb the rising local transmission in the state, an official said. Mizoram on Tuesday reported 198 Covid-19 cases, taking the state’s tally to 6,556. At least 56 people were discharged from various Covid-19 Care Centres on Tuesday. The number of active cases now stands at 1,371, while 5,168 people have recovered from the virus. The death toll in the state is 17. 13 patients currently undergoing treatment at the Intensive Care Unit of Zoram Medical College (ZMC) and 8 of them are on ventilators, officials said.
(Source: The Mizoram Post Vol. 18 Issue 322 Aizawl Wednesday 05 May 2021 http://www.themizorampost.net/page-view?date=05-05-2121&page_no=1)