AIZAWL, Aug 7 - Eighteen drivers and handymen of trucks stranded in north Mizoram, have tested positive for COVID-19.
An official source said till this morning, 320 samples of stranded truckers and local people were tested and 18 truckers and a 12-year-old local boy turned out to be positive.
Several trucks have been stranded on the National Highway-306 in Kolasib district, which is the economic lifeline of the State, owing to road repair works.
This has prompted the Kolasib district administration to declare the stretch of the highway between Sethawn and Thingdawl villages as a containment zone from 6 pm on Thursday.
Kolasib Deputy Commissioner Dr H Lalthlangliana told reporters that mass rapid antigen tests were conducted on the stranded truckers as well as the local villagers.
�So far, 18 truck drivers and a 12-year-old boy of Sethawn village have tested positive. They have been shifted to the COVID Care Centre at Thingdawl and testing is continuing in the area,� he said.
�Those who came in close contact with the positive persons but tested negative, are being quarantined. There are 22 such people who have been kept under observation,� he added.
The DC said that there are still 572 trucks in the containment zone whose drivers and handymen are yet to be tested. Moreover, 107 Mizoram-bound trucks are also stranded at Lailapur in Assam, he said.
He said the truckers who tested negative were allowed to leave the containment zone and 89 trucks have already left.
Meanwhile, two new positive cases were detected in Aizawl on Thursday night, taking the State�s COVID-19 tally to 558, including 251 active cases.
