Mizoram's COVID-19 tally climbed to 649 after a person has been detected with the virus on Thursday, informed State Directorate of Information and Public Relations.

The new case has been reported from Champhai district taking the active cases of the state to 319. However, 330 patients have been recovered from the disease. The state has not reported any death so far while 2 persons have been migrated

The Mizoram government will purchase 10,000 more rapid antigen kits to boost the states COVID-19 testing capacity, Chief Minister Zoramthanga said on Wednesday.

The chief minister made the announcement at a meeting with officials of the state government, NGOs, churches and doctors, according to an official.

Every citizen should take precautionary measures as community transmission can take place at any time. The preventive measure is for our safety against the pandemic. Testing should be done in a massive way and more rapid antigen kits will be purchased, Zoramthanga was quoted as saying by the official.

It was agreed at the meeting that the existing safety protocol will be enforced more strictly in the wake of the spurt in cases, the official said.

Funerals with maximum 50 people will henceforth be held either at church halls or community halls but not in private residences to ensure that social distancing is strictly followed, he said.

Social distancing will be given priority in any gathering, he added.

The meeting also discussed the importance of framing a standard operating procedure (SOP) for frontline workers and using building infrastructures owned by churches as care centers or hospitals to treat COVID-19 patients in order to ease the load on government facilities, the official said.