AIZAWL: The Mizoram government has decided to shut all schools that were reopened for students of classes 10 and 12 due to the rising number of locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and also because some pupils have tested positive for the infection, Education Minister Lalchhandama Ralte said on Sunday.
The schools, that were reopened for the students of the two classes on October 16, besides hostels, will remain closed from Monday as the state will observe 'COVID-19 no tolerance fortnight', he said.
If the pandemic situation improves and the chain of local transmission is broken during the drive, the schools and hostels are likely to reopen on November 9, the minister said.
Registrations for next year's board examinations are under process and online classes will continue, he said.
The COVID-19 protocol will be strictly followed during the drive, a notification said.
Only 70 per cent of the government employees will attend office on an alternate basis and the young staffers in the remaining 30 per cent will be deployed for COVID-19 duty, it said.
A maximum of 35 people can attend marriage receptions and funerals and 20 people can attend political and social gatherings.
The previous limit was 50, the notification said.
As per the new order, gymnasiums and picnic resorts shall remain closed and sports practice will be allowed with a maximum of 10 participants for indoor events and 25 for outdoor activities.
Meanwhile, fifty-eight more people, including 15 students of two private schools in Aizawl, have tested positive for COVID-19 in Mizoram, taking the northeastern state's caseload to 2,447 on Sunday, a health official said.
Aizawl district reported the highest number of new cases at 44, followed by five each in Hnahthial and Kolasib, and two each in Serchhip and Khawzawl, he said.
Twenty-two new patients have travel history, while 36 infections were detected during contact tracing, the official said.
Mizoram now has 249 active coronavirus cases, while 2,198 people have recovered from the disease so far, he said.
The state has not reported any coronavirus fatality till date, the official said.
The state has so far tested 1,04,073 samples for COVID-19, including 1,121 on Saturday, he added.