Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on March 6 said that the government has listed 13 hospitals, which will have isolation wards across the state, to tackle the outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19).
Health and Family Welfare minister, Alexander Laloo Hek said not a single case of COVID-19 has been suspected or confirmed in the state. “There would be isolation wards in 13 hospitals and the government is taking more precautionary steps while monitoring the situation,” Chief Minister Conrad Sangma told reporters.
Sangma said that all measures are being taken to prevent the spread of the virus. “We have contacted a number of private hospitals to take necessary steps and screening of people especially foreigners are going on at various airports,” he said.
Exhorting people not to panic, Sangma said that 61 students from Meghalaya who had returned from China and kept under observation for 28 days, out of which, 54 of them have come out without any symptoms of having been infected with the virus.
He said the remaining seven students are being monitored and the 28 days of observing them will also end soon.
On holding trade fairs and big events in the state which will have participants and materials from foreign countries, Sangma said taking into consideration the advisory, trade fairs would not go ahead in the state.
The confirmed COVID-19 cases in India have a travel history of Thailand and Malaysia.
There are now 31 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country after another suspect was tested positive on Friday. This includes 16 Italian nationals.
As per the latest advisory, all international passengers irrespective of nationality are mandated to undergo universal medical screening. Adequate screening measures have been setup, and nine more airports have been added to the existing 21, bringing the total to 30 airports.
