Shillong(Meghalaya), April 25: A high-level meeting was held today with the participation of the Government and opposition leaders to discuss the prevailing COVID-19 situation.
A detailed presentation was made by the state Chief Secretary detailing the steps taken by the Government relating to management of the COVID-19 situation, movement of essential commodities, distribution of food grains, relief measures and other steps being taken by the government. It was informed that there has been increase in testing capacity since the detection of the first COVID-19 positive case. The capacity of RT-PCR testing is being increased from 90 to 370 by mid-May. 50,000 antibody RD kits will be available by first week of May.
State Chief Secretary informed that the Health Systems are being constantly strengthened and adequate stocks of health equipment are now available across the State- PPE (64,458), N95 masks (80,190), BiPAP Machines (60) and 3-ply masks (5,10,000) and the quarantine, Corona-Care and Isolation Centres have been set up across the State to meet any surge situation.
The CS said that doctors and other frontline medical staff including ambulance drivers and housekeeping staff are also being well taken care of and surveillance and monitoring of all the registered 5200 individuals in the state are being done and the framework for home quarantine and testing post April 28 has also discussed in detail.
He informed that distribution of Rs. 3000 one-time financial assistance for 10,287 Meghalaya citizens stranded outside is underway . The benefits are also being provided under the various other schemes- PM KISAN (87, 187 farmers @ Rs. 2000), PM Jan Dhan Yojana (3,01,428 women account holders @ 1,500), Building and Construction Workers (17,649 workers @ Rs. 3000) and Assistance for unorganized Sector (2,02,281 workers @ Rs. 2,100 (applicants being verified)), Provision Kits for quarantined Households (5200 Households).
The meeting decided to jointly urge the citizens of the state to provide sensitive support to all COVID-19 positive individuals and those probable cases and not to stigmatize any individual as the virus can affect any person. and not to be fearful of the virus and to follow the standard protocols relating to personal hygiene, hand washing, cough etiquette and social distancing.
As per existing data, most people affected by the virus will not need hospitalization and will recover by being under home isolation and government is fully prepared to deal with all cases that may need hospitalization. and urged to upon the citizens of the state to be respectful and kind to all the health care staff and other frontline workers.
