Amid coronavirus outbreak Manipur, Mizoram ban goods and products from China

GUWAHATI: As death toll in China mounts due to coronavirus, Manipur and Mizoram governments have decided to impose a ban on food items and other products from China.

Officials from Manipur Health and Family Welfare Department informed that a circular has been issued to restrict production, distribution, sale of packed food products, which are produced in China, Myanmar and other South-East Asian countries. These same restrictions also apply on products which are not labeled properly.

"The Chinese food and various other products including second-hand or used clothes are sold in the bordering markets of India-Myanmar along Manipur. People have been advised not to purchase or use these items," an official said.

To combat the threat of novel coronavirus threat, Indian authorities have set up screening and testing centres along the borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh, officials said on Wednesday.

The Airport Authority of India (AAI), with the State Governments, has also set up similar screening and testing counters at most of the airports of the Northeast.

An official of Mizoram Health and Family Welfare Department had said that in Aizawl a medical team comprising doctors and health staff are conducting medical check-up at Zokhawthar (an India-Myanmar border checkpost in Champhai district) for the travellers across the borders based on their health status and travel history.

Officials from the district administration are also posted in the border screening and testing centers. The official said that on the opposite side of the border, the Myanmar government too since January 27 has been conducting medical screening of the people who are moving across the borders.

Manipur Health and Family Welfare Department has deployed medical officers along India-Myanmar border towns of Moreh and Behiang to screen all people — both foreigners and Indians — entering India after travelling from China or any other neighboring countries.

Assam has sounded an alert to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). The State Health department is maintaining a close watch over the situation and holding discussions with the Airports Authority of India to check passengers’ travel history at the entry and exit points of Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) Airport at Borjhar to identify any possible carrier of the virus.

A surveillance team is already working to take necessary steps. The Health department has made arrangements to isolate patients infected with novel coronavirus.

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