Guwahati: With a view to check the rampant spread of the COVID-19 virus in the state, the Manipur Government on Wednesday, July 22, decided to once again go the lockdown course starting from 2 pm tomorrow. The total lockdown in the Northeast Indian state will last for 7 days.
An emergency state cabinet meeting was called earlier today due to the sharp spike in the COVID-19 graph in the state. After a series of discussions and deliberations, the Manipur cabinet decided to combat the respiratory illness by once again imposing a lockdown. On Tuesday, the COVID-19 tally in Manipur crossed the 2,000-mark with the detection of 90 new cases. The total tally now stands at 2,015 of which 631 are active cases.
"In view of the current COVID-19 situation in Manipur, the emergency State cabinet meeting has decided to impose total lockdown for 7 days starting from 02:00 pm of July 23, 2020 which might be extended further for 7 more days, I appeal all to abide by lockdown guidelines.", Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh wrote in a tweet.
This declaration of total lockdown in Manipur comes a day after the authorities in the Thoubal district put the district under complete curfew and lockdown till July 27 after the detection of COVID-19 cases without any travel history (which suggests the spread of the virus in the community).
Dr. J Suresh Babu, Manipur's chief secretary and the chairperson of the state executive committee of the state disaster management authority, issued an order in this regard on Tuesday.
"There shall be a complete curfew in the entire Thoubal district until further orders or till July 27 whichever is earlier. Only the personnel of essential services permitted by the deputy commissioner, Thoubal will be allowed," the order said, adding that no inter-district travel, including passing through the district would be allowed. Three areas of Thoubal district -- Thoubal Khunou, Moijing Gram Panchayat areas and Heirok Part III -- were also declared as containment zones to contain the transmission of the virus/ The Manipur Government's decision to impose a total lockdown in the state comes days after the Sikkimese Government decided to take a similar course of action to check the virus' spread.