Meghalaya: Darrang, Dawki and four other villages declared containment zone
Meghalaya Home Minister Lahkmen Rymbui, on Friday, informed that Darrang, Shnongpdeng, Kongwang, Lymba, Dawki, Bakur in West Jaintia Hills (WJH) district, have been declared as containment zone, given the rise of COVID cases in the area.
He informed that the Deputy Commissioner of WJH has written to the National Health Mission (NHM), seeking more Lab Technicians to collect the samples from the area.
The congested village of Darrang has reported 44 positive cases with 28 affected households out of 190. There are no cases in Shnongpdeng and other villages so far.
“We have discussed with the district administration and the health department about the plan of action so that we can ease the problems faced by the people of Darrang, Dawki, Bakur and others and the way forward,” Rymbui said.
He added that the medical team would review the situation and do the needful.
As per the previous protocol issued by the government, the asymptomatic case can be released after ten days but, with the new strain, the protocol needs to change.
"Since it is a new strain, we have discussed that people who have completed at least 14 days or ten days, as the case may be, can go for re-test so that it can be a case study for us also and we will know the type of strain and how it affects the people,” he said.
Furthermore, the minister said that the Sub-Divisional Officer (Civil) would coordinate with village dorbar on what needs to be done to ease the suffering of the people and assured of reviewing the situation daily.
When asked whether the government would halt the export business to Bangladesh given the COVID situation, Rymbui replied in the negative.
He said the export is continuing and, the Sub-Divisional Officer (Civil) has issued a protocol in this regard, considering the livelihood of the people.
“If we declare containment zone for five to six areas, it will affect (the) likelihood of the people and their day-to-day life,” he added.
The minister also said that it is a ‘wait and watch’ policy since the testing process is still on.
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