Meghalaya to increase testing capacity by another 300 tests as COVID-19 tally rises 779

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJuly 28, 2020

Forty-one more persons have been tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, taking the number of active cases in the state to 580.

The state government has also decided to increase its testing capacity, after the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Jorhat has agreed to conduct 300 tests per day for the state.

Director of Health Services (MI) Dr Aman War told reporters that he has received a letter from the CSIR, Jorhat informing that they are having eight RT-PCR machines, which can conduct 3,000 tests per day.

“They (CSIR) conveyed that they can accommodate 300 tests per day for Meghalaya. We will immediately activate that in order to increase the testing capacity of the state,” he informed.

According to him, the state is facing a challenge regarding the testing for COVID-19 in view of the surge in the number of cases.  

At present, the testing centre at the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health & Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) is having a testing capacity of 600 per day, while Pasteur Institute, Shillong at 90 and Tura at 100.

“We have also proposed to get more RT-PCR machines to increase the testing capacity of the Pasteur Institute, Shillong,” he added.  

Dr War further informed that the 41 fresh cases include 36 in East Khasi Hills (28 civilians, 6 armed forces and 2 CRPF), 3 in West Jaintia Hills, 1 in West Khasi Hills and 1 in West Garo Hills. “We now have a total of 580 active cases in the state,” he said.

Asked, the DHS said the six armed forces in Shillong are returnees from Bihar and 28 civilians include 8 returnees from Assam and four from Bihar and 4 from NEIGRIHMS.

In West Jaintia Hills, he said one patient is a returnee from Jammu and Kashmir while 2 others are high risks contacts of a positive case from Amlarem.

Shillong, the district headquarter of East Khasi Hills as well as the state Capital of Meghalaya is the worst-affected by Novel coronavirus alone accounts 479 active cases, is under three days lockdown.

Of these, 243 are BSF troopers, 204 are civilians and 32 are armed forces personnel.

The three days lockdown started in Shillong Agglomeration on Monday and was necessitated in view of the rise in the number of COVID-19 cases and to enable the health authorities to carry out contact tracing extensively and aggressively.

There are 52 active cases in Ri Bhoi, 15 in East Jaintia Hills, 13 in West Jaintia Hills, 11 in West Garo Hills, 4 West Khasi Hills, 4 in South West Garo Hills, 1 in East Garo Hills and 1 in North Garo Hills.

Two districts, South West Khasi Hills and South Garo Hills have registered zero cases.

The state so far has registered a total of 779 positive cases which include 194 patients who have recovered from the infection and five deceased.

As on Tuesday, the samples sent for testing is 35,021 of which 33,492 were found to be negative while test results of 750 are awaited.

Meanwhile, a total of 24,055 people have returned to the state till date.