Meghalaya to go for random testing for COVID-19 in 71 clusters

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJuly 23, 2020

The state government has decided to go for aggressive random testing in as many as 71 clusters identified by the health department across the state to prevent community spread of the COVID-19.  

“After seeing the present situation and taking into consideration the inputs furnished by the health department, we have decided to immediately undertake random testing in 71 clusters,” Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong told reporters after a daily review meeting on Thursday.

He said that the 71 clusters across the eleven districts of the state have been identified by the health department as “vulnerable” to COVID-19. According to him, there may be around 30-40 villages in 1 cluster.

Tynsong informed that the random testing will be conducted by antigen kits. “Over 40,000 antigen test kits are available in the state while another 1.60 lakh are on the way,” he said.

Asked, the deputy chief minister said, “We have decided to continue with the random testing in a more aggressive manner across the state to prevent community spread of the disease.”

The state government has also requested the support and cooperation of over 7000 Community COVID-19 Management Committees in the massive exercise.

“These committees will be part of the operation and I request them to kindly work together with the team of health workers, who will be visiting their respective villages for the smooth conduct of the random testing,” Tynsong said.