In an attempt to combat the ongoing spike in Covid19 positive cases in Mizoram, the state government has declared 87 villages/ localities in Aizawl District as red zones. Villages and localities with a positivity rate above 10% have been marked as red zones. These areas will remain under watch for seven days after which the list will be revised.
According to the guidelines issued last week, the government has prohibited religious gatherings in red- zone areas and since then, churches and other religious places have remain closed in these areas. Shops are also ordered to open on alternate days. According to the guidelines, residents in the red zones are to stay within their zone areas and avoid movement outside their localities. However, this remains hardly executed in many of the red zone areas especially in localities with commercial centres. In many of the red zone localities, residents move in and out of their localities as many offices/shops and work places remain open with the usual working hours in other areas. Many are of the opinion that the red zone restrictions will have no substantial effect on account of the absence of detailed instructions on how to execute the guidelines. There are few red zone localities in Aizawl where permission has to be taken to leave one's locality and road blocks have been set up to prevent movement to and from the localities. But movements remain more or less the same in other red zone localities. Currently Mizoram stands at 11767 active cases and 623 deaths with 93.3% recovery rate.
