Manipur Declares Total Lockdown from July 18 Onwards for 10 Days

IMPHAL:

The Manipur government has declared a state of total lockdown for 10 days beginning July 18 due to the high occurrences of the Delta variant of COVID-19 in the state.

V. Vumlunmang, Principal Secretary of Manipur, declared in an official statement that the state's transmission chain must be broken. 

"With the wide prevalence of Delta variant of Covid-19 in Manipur, there is a need to take stringent measures to break the chain of transmission. Therefore, the state government has decided to declare a total curfew from July 18, 2021, for ten days," the health department said. 

The Principal Secretary further asked the people of the state for their cooperation to curb the spread of the deadly infectious disease. Only essential actions connected to immunisation and COVID testing are permitted, according to the notification. The state will enable medical services, water services, water supply, electricity supply, telecom/internet services, air travel, and agricultural operations. 

On June 18, Manipur Chief Minister N.Biren Singh acknowledged the presence of the Delta version of COVID-19 in the state for the first time.

The decision comes as Manipur reports its largest single-day spike in Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 81,560. Furthermore, 17 patients died as a result of the infection in various hospitals. In Manipur, 1,340 people have died as a result of the infection. As of Thursday, there were 8,558 active cases in the state, with 3,436 people placed under home confinement. The state administration has extended the night curfew in all districts from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. till July 20. 

Following an increase in Covid-19 cases, the centre dispatched multi-disciplinary teams to Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Manipur earlier this month. The health ministry stated that increasing testing and immunisation, developing healthcare infrastructure, and effective clinical management are among the steps that would be prioritised in nine states: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Kerala, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha, Tripura, and Sikkim.

It also stated that the slow rate of decline in active cases in northeastern states has resulted in an increase in R-factor, which shows the rate at which the illness is spreading across the country.  Bhuragaon Rape Case: DNA Samples of 65-Year-Old Rape and Murder Accused Matches with Victim

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