Meghalaya govt holds high-level meeting with opposition parties to fight COVID-19

Shillong: Amidst the confusion in the past three days on the issue of evacuation of stranded residents and how to deal with the pandemic, both the ruling front and the Opposition parties of Meghalaya were together in their endorsement for the need to have a common ground to tide over the crises.

In this regard, the government held a high-level review meeting with Opposition leaders to discuss the prevailing COVID-19 situation here on Thursday. A detailed presentation was made by the Chief Secretary on the updates following the last meeting held on April 25. The presentation highlighted the summary of stranded citizens, detailed the entry protocol and gave an insight on the evacuation model being followed to bring back the stranded from various parts of the country. Updates were also presented on the status of health infrastructure as well as the testing capacity.

The Chief Secretary said in the meeting that as on May 13, a total of 3,978 stranded individuals were brought back into the State. Separate protocols for entry for individuals coming from northeastern States and individuals coming from other States have been put in place. All incoming individuals will have to be under home quarantine, along with their families, for a period of 14 days.

The Meghalaya government has made arrangements for support and follow-up for individuals and families under quarantine. A total of 1,861 free provision kits were distributed till May 13 for all individuals under mandatory home quarantine. Besides this, a total of 2,653 home visits were made for enforcing quarantine.

A separate web link in the Meghalaya government portal has been created to register stranded citizens outside the Northeast. So far, over 9,400 individuals have registered and 7,100 individuals are expected to return.

The increase in testing capacity was also elaborated by the Chief Secretary in the meeting. As of May 13, a total of 2,537 tests were conducted wherein 2,526 tests were declared negative. The total positive cases were 13 and the number of active cases stands at 1. Within the next two weeks, the capacity is expected to increase to 600 tests per day.

An updated status of health infrastructure was highlighted in the presentation. The State now has 3,227 beds available. Adequate stock of health equipment is now available across the State – PPEs (1,53,213), 3 Ply Masks (6,30,300), N95 Masks (1,48,678), Ventilators (20) etc.

Several suggestions were made by the members of the Opposition and the Government welcomed many of the suggestions.

The meeting decided to urge the citizens of the State to provide sensitive support to all COVID-19 positive individuals and those probable cases and not to stigmatize any individual as the virus can affect any person.

The political parties urged the people of Meghalaya to accept the returning individuals and not stigmatise against them or their families. Over the course of the coming days, many more individuals will be returning. The Government protocols on guidelines are to be strictly followed. Support of community COVID management committee is needed to enforce quarantine, said the State government.

The Government also urged people not to be fearful of the virus and to follow the standard protocols relating to personal hygiene, hand washing, cough etiquette and social distancing.

As per existing data, most people affected by the virus will not need hospitalization and will recover by being under home isolation. The government is fully prepared to deal with all cases that may need hospitalization.

Also read: IBSD assisting Meghalaya to set up COVID-testing facility in Tura

Also watch: An Exclusive with Joi Barua only on The Sentinel Assam