AIZAWL, July 13 - Four more personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have tested positive for novel coronavirus in Mizoram, thus taking the state�s tally to 231.
Official source said out of 94 samples tested at the Zoram Medical College laboratory on Sunday, four were confirmed to be positive for the virus.
�The new positive cases are of NDRF personnel who came from Manipur, Assam, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh,� it said.
Earlier, 13 NDRF personnel based at 5th IR Battalion headquarters at Lungverh, about 15 kms west of Aizawl, had tested positive.
Meanwhile, a 32-year-old recovered male patient was discharged from the Dedicated Covid Health Centre in Champhai district today.
With this, Mizoram has 80 active cases and 151 discharged cases.
Meanwhile, the Health Department said that as many as 16,696 samples had been tested till Sunday evening.
As the new guidelines of lockdown in Mizoram are being enforced, people are also cautiously carrying out normal chores. The new guidelines came into effect from July 1 and will lapse on July 31 next.
However, educational and training institutions, entertainment parks, picnic spots, theatres, gymnasiums and other similar places for entertainment will continue to be prohibited till July 31.
Beauty parlours, salons and spas are allowed under the new guidelines in the State with prior appointment of customers to ensure social distancing.
Inter-district movements of people are allowed under the new guidelines. The odd-even number system of traffic continues, except on Sundays. The new guidelines also said that curfew will be effective from 7:30 pm to 4:30 am every day.
The new guidelines are more or less partial lockdown, unlike the previous ones.
According to the government order, the partial lockdown became necessary so as to address the economic issues and the hardship faced by the people due to prolonged lockdown. The guidelines were made in such a manner that they do not compromise the health and safety of the people, the order added.
Features which came under the new guidelines allow book release, sports practice and other similar programmes with a maximum number of 25 attendees.
Border areas, both inter-state and international, continue to be sealed. However, the three entry points � Vairengte and Bairabi along the Assam-Mizoram border and Kanhmun along the Mizoram-Tripura border are open for transportation of commodities.
