Covid situation in Meghalaya under control: Ampareen 

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaApril 20, 2023

Health Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh has informed that the positivity rate of Covid-19 in Meghalaya is still very much under control.

As on Thursday, the state has recorded five fresh Covid cases taking the tally of active cases to 15. Of these, two have recovered, she told reporters.

Stating that there was a surge in West Garo Hills recently, Lyngdoh however said that the government does not want to cause an unnecessary alarm because it will create very big ripples across the state.

“As a government, we are requesting citizens to ensure that they adhere to Covid practices. Anyone coming from cities where high positivity rates are there, we are requesting them to self-quarantine,” she said while adding that “Our airport is not a very busy airport. More or less the Umroi airport except for flights coming from Delhi so we do not also want to unnecessarily create the wrong alarm as of today our positivity rate is very low at 15 active cases.”

Asserting the need for citizens to police themselves to avoid causing inconveniences to the entire public at large, the minister said, “We have seen that that has worked in the last phase of Covid. We saw that it was the participation of the public that has actually helped the state of Meghalaya contain the cases from going upsurge. So if we do that it would be a much better approach.”

Further, Lyngdoh informed that the government had recently had an online interaction with the Union health minister requesting the central government to assist the state with vaccines adding that “we have not got a response yet particularly for that”.

She also reiterated that people should not really look at Covid in its situation in the previous years and said, “I feel that once there is an alarming situation then we will activate as it is we had mock drills on April 12-13 just to alert our systems. It is not a very serious condition but if every citizen can revert back to Covid practices it will be good.”

Meanwhile, the minister informed that many citizens of the state are yet to avail the booster dose against Covid-19 and said, “But we need the vaccines to come from the source but right now we are engaging with Government of India to see we are being given with some vaccines and that information has not yet come.”

When asked, Lyngdoh said, “There is a large number and I know people going out of stations for some activities will have to have those Covid booster dose but it is not yet a compulsory thing so let us see I don’t have the numbers of people already receiving the booster dose but I do not anticipate that we will have a very serious problem again.”