Mizoram has extended the ongoing lockdown for another month till June 30, officials said. It is the only Northeastern state to extend the lockdown to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.
Keeping in view, the increase of COVID-19 cases in different states, especially its neighbouring Northeastern states and the return of huge numbers of stranded residents of Mizoram from other states, it is necessary to further extend the lockdown till June 30 in a bid to prevent the spread of the disease in the state, an official release stated.
The government has issued new guidelines for the fifth phase of the lockdown with special emphasis on maintenance of social distancing and strict vigilance along the 318-km long Bangladesh and 510-km-long Myanmar borders as well as the inter-state borders with Assam, Tripura and Manipur.
Also read: Assam reduces quarantine period to 4 days, recovery rate slow
Mizoram has become COVID-19 free after its lone patient recovered from the disease and was discharged from the Zoram Medical College and Hospital on May 9th, 2020. It is the only green state in the Northeast.
Under the new guidelines, standalone shops and other business establishments are allowed to open till 5 pm while shops at shopping complexes and commercial hub within Aizawl municipal area and district headquarters will open on alternate days.
The state government has made screening of all passengers and returnees compulsory at the time of arrival and they have to be put in 14-days institutional or home quarantine.
However, the night curfew would continue to remain inforce from 7 pm to 4:30 am and gathering of more than five people is prohibited.
Meanwhile, Assam has reduced the institutional quarantine period to four days from seven days despite the ‘recovery rate is slow’.
With an increase in COVID-19 testing capacity, we have decided institutional quarantine reduced to 4 days from 7 days so that public money expenditure can be decreased. However, the recovery rate is slow in Assam,” Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said while addressing a press conference here in Guwahati on May 31st, 2020.
Claiming that the state has been able to contain the spread of the COVID-19, Sarma said a total of 2,29,893 returnees have been quarantined so far across the state. “A total of 1,04,083 samples have been so far tested in different laboratories across the state so far,” He also said that the state has increased the capacity to test 10,000 samples per day.
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