Meghalaya gets its largest quarantine centre at IIM-Shillong

SHILLONG: The largest corona care centre and quarantine facility in Meghalaya was recently inaugurated at IIM, Shillong with a total capacity of holding 258 patients. At a high-level review meeting between the state government and Opposition leaders held here on Thursday, it was decided that the facility will be used for accommodating asymptomatic individuals and those with mild symptoms.
Chief secretary MS Rao said that Meghalaya now has 3,227 beds available for treatment of Covid-19 patients."Adequate stock of health equipment is now available. The state has 1,53,213 PPEs, 6,30,300 three-ply masks, 1,48,678 N95 masks and 20 ventilators" he said.
The meeting was chaired by speaker Metbah Lyngdoh and attended by chief minister Conrad Sangma, deputy chief minister Prestone Tynsong, health minister AL Hek, home minister L Rymbui, Opposition leader Mukul Sangma and other legislators, besides senior officials of various departments.
A total of 3,978 stranded individuals have been brought back to the state via five entry points, the chief secretary informed, adding that separate protocols for entry of individuals coming in from other northeastern states and those from other states have been put in place.
"All incoming individuals will have to be under home quarantine, along with their families, for a period of 14 days. The government has made arrangements for support and follow-up treatment for individuals and families under quarantine," Rao informed, adding that a total of 1,861 free provision kits were distributed till May 13 for all individuals under mandatory home quarantine.
"Besides this, 2,653 home visits were made for enforcing quarantine and a separate web link on the Meghalaya government portal was created to register stranded citizens outside northeast. So far, over 9,400 individuals have registered and 7,100 are expected to return," he added.
The government and the Opposition jointly urged the citizens to "accept the returning individuals and not stigmatize them or their families", adding that over the course of the coming days, many more individuals would return to the state.
So far, Meghalaya has registered 13 Covid-19 positive cases, of which one died, 11 recovered and one remains under treatment.