Meghalaya active cases up, tally 10 ....Samples of four high-risk primary contacts and 32 other primary contacts have been taken for testing

Officials interact with the villagers on Saturday. Picture by UB Photos

TT, 19.04.20, Shillong : Meghalaya has recorded 10 active cases of coronavirus after two samples tested positive on Saturday.

Chief minister Conrad K. Sangma on Saturday said that one of the two samples was that of a family member of the first Covid-19 patient, while the other was that of their help.

The first patient, the director of a private hospital here, was diagnosed on Monday, but he passed away on Wednesday. All the current 10 active cases are his family members and helps.

Conrad said that while the help, an inhabitant of a village located outside the state capital, is under quarantine at a corona care centre, the family members have been put under home quarantine.

Samples of four high-risk primary contacts and 32 other primary contacts have been taken for testing.

On Saturday morning, a team led by commissioner and secretary (health) P. Sampath Kumar rushed to the village to instil confidence among the villagers.

The village headmen requested the people not to panic, and said that the family would be kept under home quarantine while frontline health workers and the community will help the family.

Conrad also said that the health officials are still working on finding out the source of the virus, which has entered the state after the first Covid-19 patient was detected. “Though we have gone back and traced travel history, looked at the patients who met the index patient and looked all into the aspects, we are still examining. We will ensure that we will go into that,” he said.

At the same time, he said the government was working towards containing the spread of the virus.

He informed that till date 738 samples have been sent for testing, out of which, 667 have tested negative while the results of 60 samples are awaited. The condition of all the patients is “stable as of now”, he added.

The chief minister clarified that only high-risk primary contacts who lived in close proximity with the first patient, other symptomatic primary contacts, symptomatic high-risk individuals who have visited the hospital after March 24 and have registered with the government would be tested for the virus.

He said this after several people had made calls enquiring as to why they have not been tested. He also said that not everyone who has tested positive needs hospitalisation.