Churches to open on Sundays, Mizoram relaxes Covid restrictions

The Mizoram government has issued new COVID-19 guidelines with a few more relaxations to ease economic and other activities in Aizawl Municipality Corporation (AMC) area and other parts of the state.

The new guidelines will come into effect on October 3 and will remain in force in the state till October 16.

The order issued on Friday night said that it has been felt necessary to give more focus on providing better treatment to COVID-19 patients than imposing stringent restrictions despite a spurt in COVID-19 cases.

The new order allowed the re-opening of churches in COVID-19 affected AMC area and also in other parts of the state only on Sunday and Sabbath (Saturday) during daytime with 50 per cent seating capacity.

Churches in COVID-19 free towns and villages outside AMC area have been already re-opened on August 22.

School and other higher education institutions will continue to remain close in AMC area but training institutes will be allowed to re-open with 50 per cent seating capacity in the state capital, the order said.

The government has already allowed re-opening of schools (KG to class 12) and Anganwadi centres in coronavirus free towns outside AMC area on August 15 and further allowed re-opening of all educational institutions, including colleges, on September 5.

Re-opening of public parks is now allowed even in AMC area with 50 participants subjected to permission of local level task force of the locality where such park is located.

Social or public gatherings like anniversary or birthday celebrations and other gatherings are now allowed in AMC area with either 50 per cent of the seating capacity or 50 attendees, whichever is less, the order said.

The number of attendees in funerals and weddings in AMC area has been increased from 30 to 50 or 50 per cent of the seating capacity, whichever is less, it said.

The government has now allowed full re-opening of all business shops, market places, hawker stalls, hotels, restaurants (with 50% seating capacity) and tourist lodges, among others, across AMC area.

All government offices in the state will now open with full staff, the order said. Intra-state movement is allowed under exceptional cases, it said. Night curfew will continue to be imposed in all district headquarters between 8 pm and 4 am.

In areas outside AMC, deputy commissioners will issue separate guidelines depending on the COVID-19 situation of their districts or areas, the order said.

Meanwhile, Mizoram on Saturday reported 1,626 new COVID-19 cases pushing the states tally to 96,456, a health official said.

The death toll rose to 314 as three more persons succumbed to the infection in the last 24 hours, he said. At least 263 children were among the newly infected people, he said.

The single-day positive rate rose to 20.53 per cent from the previous day 16.83 per cent, as the fresh cases were detected from 7,919 sample tests, he said. The state now has 16,361 active COVID-19 cases.

At least 1,677 people have recovered in the last 24 hours, pushing the total number of recovery to 79,781.

The state has so far conducted more than 11.12 lakh samples tests for COVID-19. Over 6.82 lakh people have been vaccinated till Friday, of which 4.47 lakh people have received both doses of COVID-19 vaccine, state immunisation officer Dr Lalzawmi said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)