By Waikhom Chitradhani
Imphal(Manipur), July 18 : With the rapid surge in COVID-19 cases, the Manipur government imposed a 10-day stricter curfew in the entire region of the state with effect from Sunday.
An order issued by the state chief secretary on Friday said that the curfew will be a strict one and no activity except few essential activities would be allowed during the curfew.
Apart from essential service providers, Manipur residents were ordered to stay indoors on Friday.
The state police monitored in most areas with strict rules on Sunday. All the roads of the state were empty and markets were shut.
Meanwhile, the announcement of the stricter measures has triggered panic in the people. They were seen lining up in front of shops on Saturday to stock up for 10 days. Since the announcement, several leading markets in the state witnessed a sizable crowd that lined up to buy vegetables, groceries and other essential items.
Earlier, chief minister N Biren Singh warned that state security forces along with CRPF will be deployed for strict enforcement of the curfew.
Meanwhile, Manipur on Sunday reported 963 new cases of COVID-19 over the past 24 hours. 11 more deaths were reported today pushing the fatality tally to 1,376, according to the latest data of the state Health department. The state’s COVID-19 caseload reached 84,822 with 9,676 active cases.
The state also registered discharge of 723 patients during the day, which took the recovery count to 73,770. The state’s recovery rate is 86.97 per cent.
The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the state rose to 10,36,124 with 25,769 doses administered on Sunday.
