Shillong July 6: Meghalaya witnessed a surge in COVID-19 positive cases on Monday as 8 persons including 5 more Border Security Force (BSF) personnel and one person who attended a wedding party at Greenwood Resort in Guwahati were tested positive, taking the total active cases to 36 in the state.

In all, Meghalaya has recorded 80 positive cases, which include 43 people who have recorded, 36 active cases and one died.

Health and Family Welfare Minister, Alexander Laloo Hek said that one person got infected with the virus after attending a wedding ceremony at Greenwood Resort in Assam’s main city of Guwahati recently.

“Out of the 41 people who had attended the wedding at Greenwood Resort, swab samples of 38 individuals have tested negative for COVID-19,” Hek told journalists.

With five more new active cases in the BSF, Hek informed that the overall number of the BSF who had contracted the viral infection has increased to 16 as on Monday.

A woman who had returned to Tura, the district headquarters of West Garo Hills from Guwahati in Assam, tested positive for the viral infection on her arrival and another person tested positive for the same in Ri Bhoi district, he informed.

Meghalaya so far has registered 80 COVID-19 cases, which includes 36 active cases and one death, while 43 have recovered from the viral infection.

21,846 swab samples have been sent for tests till date, out of which, 21,223 samples tested negative for COVID-19, Hek informed, adding that the number of people from outside who came to Meghalaya till Monday is 20,282.

Giving a break up of active cases in district wises, out of 36 positive cases, Hek said that East Khasi Hills recorded 17 cases including 16 BSF men, 12 in Ri-Bhoi district, 3 in West Garo Hills, 2 from South West Garo Hills and 1 from East Jaiñtia Hills.

Asked about the reasons that led to the surge of COVID-19 positive cases, Director Health Services (MI), Dr Aman War said that one of the main reasons is the number of people who returned from outside were infected by the virus, while some of them were the high risk contacts of those infected persons.

However, he said that the persons who tested positive were all asymptotic (category A).

War said that testing of all BSF personnel within the campus at Umpling should be done and random testing through rapid test is also continuing especially in vulnerable areas in Ri-Bhoi district from Byrnihat to Khanapara bordering Guwahati.

“Till Sunday, 508 random tests have been carried out and all the tests were negative. Random testing will continue, and we have further increased the testing capacity,” War said.

According to War, the RT-PCR test at the Pasteur Institute in Shillong has also started. The main test is being conducted at the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS).