Shillong, Jun 29 (PTI) The Meghalaya government on Monday announced the extension of night curfew till July 6 across the state and total lockdown in areas bordering Guwahati in Assam to prevent the spread of COVID-19, officials said.

Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma announced lockdown in areas close to Guwahati along the inter-state border with Assam.

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"Government has decided that the locations in Meghalaya bordering Guwahati i.e Byrnihat, Jorabat till Khanapara will be under #lockdown due to the surge in #Covid_19 cases in #Assam," the chief minister tweeted.

"Inter-state movement continues to be restricted. DC will issue necessary orders accordingly," he added.

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At present, there are seven active COVID-19 cases in the state as 42 affected persons have recovered and one person has died.

"District deputy commissioners (DC) have been asked to issue night curfew orders till July 6 in their respective districts besides issue order extending the ban on inter-state movement of people," a senior government official told PTI.

The orders issued by respective district deputy commissioners, however, will not apply to security forces, medical teams on duty, wholesale and retail pharmacies, police and armed forces, and other essential services, he said. PTI JOP RG RG 06292202 NNNNer decades of following my London team, Arsenal, in the flesh at home and abroad.

So far, the team hasn't played a ''home'' match that I would normally attend. Watching other empty stadia has featured a decision: whether to choose the fake audio atmosphere generated by the channels.

No, thanks. That ranks with laugh tracks, lip synching and ghostwriting. So it's natural sound for me — the agitated strains of players, coaches and the ball being kicked and headed.

The first two matches I watched, my team lost. Once, against a superior team, barely registered on the anger scales. The second, against an inferior one, rankled due to a long-term injury to our goalkeeper because of unnecessary foul play from an opponent who then rubbed salt in the wound by scoring the winning goal in the dying seconds.

But it passed quickly, quicker than it ever would have in the past. A close friend and colleague who has also supported Arsenal all his life felt the same watching live from New York in our hyper-connected world. We WhatsApp-ed, then moved on with the rest of our weekends.

The same friend and I had attended a match that we still reminisce about where a winning goal, a penalty deep into stoppage time, had sent my row bonkers, us included, and seemed to take the roof off.

Those are the joys. Camaraderie with several people I sit with as a season ticket holder for more than a quarter century. The pre-match rituals, the pub for a couple looseners (or not, in the event my teenage son, who has gone off the game in the last few years, accompanies me — a rare treat).

Then on Thursday, a win — but dreary watching nonetheless. I'll keep watching the matches every few days as the league races to complete the interrupted season. But let's not kid ourselves: Like so much else, this was a financial decision as lockdowns are eased across the world to resuscitate flatlining economies.

Hundreds of millions in various currencies are at stake for the monstrous cash-cow brand; global TV rights are in the balance.

But the first ''home"" game of the pandemic rest-of-season this week will feel especially soulless to view denuded of fans and denuded of me. And I cannot even fathom when it will cease to be insanity to attend an event with some 60,000 other people again.

Memories fortify. Maybe Humphrey Bogart's Rick was right in ''Casablanca'': "We'll always have ...'' ___

Virus Diary, an occasional feature, showcases the coronavirus pandemic through the eyes of Associated Press journalists around the world. See previous entries here. AP

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)