Meghalaya seeks Centre’s nod for setting up two more COVID-19 testing facilities
Meghalaya health minister AL Hek on Saturday said the state government has urged the Centre to allow setting up of two COVID-19 testing facilities in the state. As per reports, Hek had asked union health minister Harsh Vardhan to consider ramping up of the coronavirus testing facilities in Meghalaya. He also said that he had told the union health minister that the East KhasiHills district has been categorised as a ‘red zone’ and allthe positive cases reported so far were from one source only. He also said that Harsh Vardhan had assured him of looking upon his request.
Currently, there is only one COVID-19 testing facility in the state which is the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) located in Shillong. Meghalaya has so far reported 11 coronavirus cases and one death due to the virus. Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma said that as on Friday, out of 1,130 samples tested so far, 1,048 have yielded negative results and the results of 70 tests are awaited. Altogether, 5,503 persons are in home quarantine, while 300 others are under institutional quarantine, the Chief Minister said.
In compliance with the guidelines issued recently by the Union home ministry, the Meghalaya chief secretary issued an order announcing relaxations in lockdown norms in some activities. Meghalaya chief secretary issued an order on Thursday informing that notified shops dealing in essential goods, courier services for essential goods, E-Commerce operations in essential goods, and common service centres are permitted to open in the state with effect from Friday.
