COVID-19 Community Transmission has begun in Meghalaya, says Deputy CM

Guwahati: Months after the novel coronavirus surfaced in the Northeast Indian region, it seems to have finally reached a "community transmission" phase in the state Meghalaya.

"Let me just be blunt that the community spread of the disease has already started (in the state)," the State's Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong told reporters yesterday after a review meeting held to take stock of the situation.

Confirming the same to The Sentinel Digital, Ak Hek, the Meghalaya health minister said that the current spike in cases is "indicative of community transmission" in Meghalaya.

Tynsong yesterday informed that the state has continued to witness a surge in the COVID-19 cases and not less than 60 people are testing positive for the pathogen on a regular basis.

The Deputy Chief Minister said that "this is because many have forgotten to follow the protocols by the government strictly."

"Therefore, we would like to remind all the citizens of the state to kindly adhere to the SOPs and protocols issued from time to time especially the three simple and important things to do ie wearing masks, social distancing, and washing or sanitizing your hands as many times as possible," Tynsong added.

He further stated that the state's health machinery has been posited with a difficult task in regard to testing for the virus. "We have also discussed this issue related to contact tracing of positive cases and we have asked the health department to work out the modalities but frankly speaking, when community spread is there, it is difficult to conduct the contact tracing," Tynsong said.

Meghalaya has so far recorded a total of 2,734 positive cases, of which 1,252 are active and 14 have died due to the viral infection.

In all, East Khasi Hills has the highest number of active cases in the state with 842 cases, followed by West Garo Hills with 140 cases, Ri Bhoi with 91, and East Garo Hills with 83 cases.

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