Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh appealed to the people of the State to be responsible and judicious, maintaining the COVID Appropriate Behaviours while celebrating the Yaoshang Festival.

Taking into consideration that Manipur being a State with a handful of the population could be worst affected by the second wave of the pandemic, the Government had come up with the decision to disallow activities involving person to person contact such as Thabal Chongba, Jatrawali and musical concerts among others, he added.

The Chief Minister was briefing the media, at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, on the preventive measures necessary to be taken up to contain the spread of COVID-19 during the Yaosang Festival. He further expressed concern that the number of positive cases is increasing alarmingly in some states of the Country and Manipur too had seen an increasing trend of positive cases in the last 4 to 5 Days. He, therefore, appealed to the public to refrain from unnecessary gatherings which could be a factor for the rapid spread of the disease in the State.

He recalled that the State Government had also issued orders imposing regulation on organising Yaoshang sports with strict observance of Standard Operating Procedures. Regarding torch lighting relay, he added that a maximum of 20 persons for each club shall be allowed to carry the torch till Kangla and only 5 persons shall be allowed inside Kangla for the torch relay.

Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare V. Vumlunmang stated that the vaccination drive for COVID-19 in the State is in progress and around 65% of health workers had been vaccinated so far. The testing of passengers arriving from eight States, where the number of positive cases is going up alarmingly, is being done at the Imphal Airport, he added.

The press conference was also attended by the Director, Health Services K. Rajo and the Officials of the Department among others.