Guwahati: With a view to containing the spread of the novel coronavirus, the Mizoram state government has declared a partial lockdown in the Aizawl municipal area till 17th September amid unlock 4.0 in the state. The decision has been taken in view of the spike in Covid-19 cases.
As per the Chief Secretary's order, the partial lockdown measures shall be implemented in the areas with effect from midnight of September 11 till 23:59 pm of September 17.
An order issued last evening by the chief secretary Lalnunmawia Chuango said that a significant number of cases have been reported from contact tracing and unknown sources. In view of this, the partial lockdown is announced to carry out extensive contact tracing and to reduce local transmission.
The Chief Secretary in his notification also said that "the risk of community transmission is juncture, and it is considered necessary to impose temporary restrictions on movement of persons in public places in Aizawl Municipal Area in order to facilitate contact tracing, surveillance, testing and to reduce the local transmission rate thereby containing further spread of the disease."
Recently, the Government of Mizoram issued its own set of 'Unlock 4' guidelines days after the Centre released its list of relaxations to resume economic activities after the prolonged lockdown that was imposed in view of the ongoing pandemic situation. In its latest set of rules, the government of Mizoram has decided to relax certain economic activities with an emphasis on the precautionary measures.
Although the Centre has asked the states and UTs to do away with night curfews, Mizoram has decided to continue with the practice. In this latest phase of the 'unlock', the night curfew will be clamped in all district headquarters, including state capital Aizawl from 8:30 pm to 4:30 am.
With 20 new COVID-19 cases reported till 7.00 am on Friday in Mizoram, the total number of coronavirus cases in the State reached 1,353. Mizoram is yet to report any COVID-19 casualties.