Taking serious note of the recent surge in COVID-19 cases in the state, the Nagaland government on Tuesday announced complete lockdown for eight days from 6 pm, May 14, in an effort to curb the spread of the disease.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the High Powered Committee on COVID-19 held at the chief minister's residential complex in Kohima on Tuesday morning.
The total lockdown will be imposed in the state from 6pm of May 14 to May 21. The existing restrictions will continue till the lockdown is in place. However, essential services, including agricultural activities, will be exempted from the purview of the restrictions, as per the High Power Committee meeting resolution.
The meeting also decided that the Health and Family Welfare department should pursue aggressive testing, utilising the full testing capacity of the COVID-19 laboratories during the lockdown period.
It further resolved that government departments will continue to function with a core team formed by the heads of department.
Construction activities may be permitted but the contractor and firms will be responsible for ensuring adherence to all SOPs for the workers, it added.
On Monday, Nagaland reported 133 new COVID-19 positive cases, taking the state's tally to 16,283, state Health Minister S Pangnyu Phom posted on Twitter.
Nagaland has 2,884 COVID-19 active cases as of Monday, while 12,734 persons have recovered from COVID-19. As many as 150 COVID-19 patients have died in Nagaland. However, 10 deaths were not due to COVID-19, the health minister said.
