The Mizoram government on Saturdaysought the Centres assistance to bring back the people of the state, who are stranded abroad, an official said.Mizoram Health minister Dr R Lalthangliana informed Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan during a video conference of health ministers of the north eastern states on Saturday that more than 500 people from Mizoram are currently stranded in different parts of the world due to the global pandemic.Lalthanglians said that majority of the stranded residents are youths employed in different jobs.The Mizoram Health minister said that no resident of Mizoram was included among 15,000 Indians, who have been brought back from abroad recently. He urged the Union Minister to take measures to facilitate the safe return of the Mizoram residents at the earliest, the official said.Highlighting the measure undertaken by the state government to contain the spread of novel coronavirus, Lalthangliana informed the meeting that the state government, NGOs and villages are making collective efforts to prevent the spread.He said Mizoram had imposed lockdown ahead of the nationwide lockdown and also began screening at airport ahead of other states.Lalthangliana said that apart from the state level task force headed by state chief secretary and district level task force headed by district deputy commissioners, village or local level task forces involving local volunteers and NGOs were formed under the state government to fight Covid-19.Lalthangliana also informed the meeting that the lone medical college in the state-Zoram Medical College (ZMC) was designated as dedicated hospital for Covid-19 treatment and Covid-19 care Centre (CCC) and Dedicated Covid-19 Health Centre (DCHC) have been set up in all the 11 districts.He also informed the Union Minister that the state's lone Covid-19 patient was discharged on Saturday and the state also registered a 10 per cent drop in Infant Mortality Rate (IMR).Vardhan assured the Mizoram health minister of all possible help to bring back the Mizos, who are stranded abroad.He praised the Mizoram government for successfully installing virology lab in a week's time and congratulated the state for becoming Covid-19 free state and occupying the second rank among Indian states in reducing IMR.