Chief Minister Zomrathanga’s government opted for a lock down following a spike in cases.
Guwahati:
Mizoram, India’s only state to record no COVID-19 deaths till now, is doubling down on efforts to curb the pandemic in the wake of a fresh spike in cases.
On Monday, the state government launched a “No Tolerance Fortnight”, following an emergency meeting with health officials, churches, and NGOs.
“The meeting decided that the future course of action will be taken depending on the COVID-19 situation,” an official statement said. “At least 295 children and youths below 18 years of age have so far tested positive…Of these, four were below two years of age, nine others between two and five years, and another 22 below 14 years.”
A seven-day lock down has been imposed on state capital Aizawl after at least 160 COVID-19 cases were detected in the municipal area since October 18. Schools, which were thrown open for classes 10 and 12 after the national lock down was eased, have now been shut down again since yesterday in the wake of a dozen students testing positive.
The “No Tolerance Fortnight” in the rest of the state involves a slew of measures, including awareness activities, restriction of people’s movement, and traffic regulation in a bid to “break the chain of transmission”. Violators will be fined, authorities said.
The Mizoram government, led by Chief Minister Zoramthanga, on Monday decided to set up care centres for children testing COVID-19 positive.
On Monday, with 46 new coronavirus cases reported, the state’s case load went up to 2,493, an official said, adding that this figure included three students. The total number of active coronavirus patients in the state now stands at 284 with 2,209 recoveries. Up to 1,04,545 samples have been tested in the past six months, official added.
