COVID-19: Mizoram issues new guidelines for social gatherings

The attendees should wear face masks.

The Mizoram government has issued a new standard operating procedure (SOP) allowing only 50 people to attend gatherings like marriage ceremony, funeral, memorial stone erection programme, in view of the rise in COVID-19 cases in the state, officials said.

Funeral of a deceased person should be attended by his or her relatives as minimal as possible and only two representatives of an association or union are allowed to attend such funerals, the order said. The order was issued on Thursday after a meeting of top officials, NGOs, churches and doctors chaired by chief minister Zoramthanga , the official said.

The order said that any funeral should be held at either church hall or Young Mizo Association hall or any other community hall in a locality to which the deceased person belongs and such arrangements will be made by the local church where the deceased belong to and YMA of that locality in order to maintain social distancing.

Old persons and people with co-morbidities are prohibited from attending funerals, the order said. The order prohibited congregational singing called “Zaikhawm”, a traditional practice to mourn a dead person or celebrate an event in any gathering especially funeral and marriage ceremony.

The attendees should wear face masks and each village or local level task force and YMA will maintain particulars of the attendees – their names, addresses and mobile numbers, it said.

Mizoram on Friday reported eight new COVID-19 cases, taking the states tally to 657, an official said. The state now has 314 COVID-19 active cases as 343 people have recovered from the disease.