Shillong, Apr 25: Meghalaya is currently sending 140 samples for test for COVID-19 in a day.
Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong on Saturday said the government will ramp up testing for COVID-19 as NEIGRIHMS (North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences) can conduct test for 90 samples in a day while Assam is offering to test 50 samples a day which is 140 in total.
He informed that another 70 samples can be tested at NEIGRIHMS once another machine becomes operational by next week, Tynsong said, “Meghalaya can test 160 samples a day in the state and with the help of Assam we can test more than 200 samples a day.â€
Another testing COVID-19 centre will come up at Tura in West Garo Hills district, the Deputy Chief Minister expects that the Centre would be operationalised April end as it will take time for installation of machines.
He also said that another testing centre is likely to come up at Nazareth Hospital but there is some delay due to some extra paper work since it is a private institute, but another testing centre at Pasteur Institute in Shillong is on the offing.
Till Saturday, out of 1169 samples sent for test, 1097 samples tested negative and 60 are awaited.
The number of active positive cases remains at 11 and one death case.
Meanwhile, Tynsong informed that 48 strong teams have been formed to monitor the 5878 persons who are under home quarantine.
Tynsong also said that the government has issued a directive to all the deputy commissioners to form a village health team in each village to also take care of the people who are infected with COVID-19 or those under home quarantine in the village.
The village health team will comprise of headman, ASHA, Anganwadi, ANM and one teacher.
Tynsong also informed that out of 10,288 people, stranded outside the state, financial assistance was given to 7288 of them.
The state wise break up of such stranded students and those working in private companies are – Karnataka (2719), Assam (2104), Tamil Nadu (1164), Maharashtra (685), West Bengal (642), Delhi (531), Telangana (357), Kerala (254), Rajasthan (201), Gujarat (194), Uttar Pradesh (194), Andhra Pradesh (175), Uttarakhand (164), Haryana (120), Bihar (101), Goa (101), Arunachal Pradesh (94), Manipur (81), Madhya Pradesh (78), Punjab (58), Nagaland (56), Pondicherry (51), Mizoram (40), Tripura (35), Odisha (21), Sikkim (19), Himachal Pradesh (16), Jharkhand (15), Chandigarh (7), Chattisgarh (7), Andaman and Nicobar Island (4).
