The Mizoram government on Thursday issued standard operating procedure (SOP) to be followed in community quarantine facilities, amid the shortage of institutional quarantine centres.

Earlier, the government had appealed to churches to offer their buildings to accommodate returnees, as designated quarantine facilities might not be sufficient to accommodate all of them.

The SOP issued by the government said that all the community quarantine facilities — church halls, school buildings and Young Mizo Association (YMA) halls — will be manned by local or village-level task forces in their respective areas under the supervision of deputy commissioners. Inmates will be put in quarantine for 14 days and sharing of room unless a separate room is available will be allowed for inmates with strict social distancing, it said.

The community quarantine facilities should be maintained and cleaned before the arrival of the inmates and capacity should be decided depending on the availability of beds and toilets. Beds or sleeping places should be arranged with strict adherence to social distancing norms.

Each family could provide mattresses, blankets and other sleeping materials to their relatives admitted in the facilities according to arrangement made with local or village-level task forces, which would maintain a detailed record of the inmates admitted and discharged, and submit a report to the incident commander or zonal officer of their areas, it said.

During the quarantine period, no inmate will be allowed to step out of the facility and visit others in the next room unless he or she shares the same room with other inmates. All the inmates should also install Aarogya Setu and mCOVlD-19 mobile applications on their phones.

Churches, localities and respective families can also provide food to the inmates through the local or village-level task force, the SOP said.

In case of sickness or medical emergencies, inmates should immediately report to doctors or the medical helplines — 102, 2318336 and 2323336.

According to an official of the task group on quarantine facilities, the government and churches have set up 543 facilities to accommodate 14,358 people across the state.

Of these, there are 267 institutional facilities, with a maximum capacity of 8,661 people, 270 community quarantine facilities to accommodate 5,628 people and six hotels with 69 beds, he said. At least 1,965 people are in institutional quarantine centres, 445 at community quarantine facilities, seven in hotels and 182 others in home quarantine.

Altogether, 169 local churches from various denominations have offered their halls to be used as quarantine facilities, he added.