COVID-19 cases jump to 44 in Meghalaya

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJuly 6, 2020

16 more persons including ten BSF jawans have been tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday taking the total active cases in the state to 44.

“Today we had 16 new cases out of which 10 were from BSF. A total of 220 High Risk Contacts of BSF were tested. 210 have tested negative and 10 positive. All under quarantine,” Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said in his twitter handle.

Sangma said this was after eight more persons have been tested positive for COVID-19 in the state.

“(Another) 8 more persons have tested positive for COVID19 in the State. 5 BSF personnel in Shillong, 2 from Ri Bhoi and 1 more from Shillong. Total active cases 44,” he said

Earlier, Health Minister AL Hek informed that eight cases have been reported which include six are from East Khasi Hills while one each from West Garo Hills and Ri Bhoi.

“The six cases in Shillong include five BSF persons and one was a wedding attendee in Greenwood Resort, Assam,” Hek told reporters.

All residing in BSF camp at Umpling to be tested for COVID-19: DHS

Asked, Director of Health Services (MI) Dr Aman War said the patient was among the persons from Shillong who had attended the wedding held at the Greenwood Resort.

“While 38 of them have been tested negative, the test results of three others are still awaited,” he said.

The DHS also said the reason for the sudden surge in positive cases in the state was due to returnees including BSF personnel and the prevailing situation in neighbouring Assam.

“Although we cannot stop people from coming back to the state, we are taking all precautions and that is why we are detecting these cases,” he said.

According to Dr War, all the active cases detected so far are ‘asymptomatic’ and falls under category-A.

“We are also increasing our testing capacity. The new centre at Pasteur Institute, Shillong has started RT-PCR testing and it will soon be inaugurated,” he said.

The DHS also maintained that there is no community transmission and that people need not panic.

Hek said that the COVID-19 active cases have increased to 36.

So far, 43 have recovered from the viral infection while one died.

The minister further informed that a total of 21,846 samples were sent for testing of which 21,223 were found to be negative.

As on Monday, a total of 20,282 people have returned to the state from different parts of the country.