MLA among 78 tested for COVID-19 in Meghalaya, all negative

Meghalaya Health Minister AL Hek said on Tuesday that 78 samples have been tested for COVID-19 in the state so far and reports of all have come back as negative. Among those tested is a legislator and his driver after they came in contact with a COVID-19 patient in Assam recently, official sources said, adding that they are currently in home-quarantine as a precaution even as their report was negative.

The samples were sent for testing to the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) and all of them have been found to be negative, Hek told PTI. The state government has strengthened surveillance and control measures in the wake of the pandemic and a total of 24,233 persons who entered the state have been screened till date, he said.

He said 137 persons came from countries worst hit by the deadly virus and of them, 93 have completed the 28-day observation. A total of 2,218 people are currently under self- quarantine in the state and 1,471 have completed the isolation period.

Hek said the state government is contemplating to shift non-COVID-19 patients from the two civil hospitals in Shillong and Tura to private hospitals in case there is a sudden outbreak in the state. The medical expenditure for such patients referred to private hospitals will be borne by the state government through the Megha Health Insurance Scheme (MHIS), he said.

The state government has also set up isolation facilities of 500 beds at the two hospitals. Hek chaired a meeting with representatives of private hospitals in the state on Monday, besides those of the hospitals run by the BSF and others.

The cancer-wing at the Shillong Civil Hospital has also been converted into a COVID-19 care centre and a few people are being quarantined there, the minister said..

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