Meghalaya: DHS Dr. Aman Warr raises alarm over COVID situation in Khanapara

SHILLONG | JULY 17, 2020:

In Meghalaya, the Director of Health Services (MI), Dr. Aman Warr admitted that the situation in Khanapara and its adjoining areas in Ri-Bhoi district is alarming and stated that they are closely monitoring the situation.

"There are no positive cases from Khanapara and its adjoining areas today. If we can contain it, we can prevent the chances of community spread of coronavirus," Dr. Warr told reporters here today.

He, however, stated that based on their observation, they have witnessed a variation in the way the virus behaves.

"The virus inside the patients who contracted the infection from Guwahati is more infectious compared to the virus contracted by the returnees. We have witnessed that the virus of the index patient, who had gone for treatment to Guwahati, is very virulent since many of his high-risk contacts have been tested positive," Dr. Warr said.

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Furthermore, he stated that in the case of the BSF, the spread of the virus is restricted within their camp adding that there is no spread of the virus outside.

"After completion of the random testing at Umpling and Nongmynsong in Shillong, we have found that there is no community spread in localities adjacent to the BSF camp," Dr. Warr said.

It may be mentioned that a total number of 547 samples were collected from Umpling and another 1001 samples from Nongmensong during the random testing exercise.

"Only one person was tested positive at Umpling during the random testing. The four suspected cases in Umpling have all turned out negative in the RT-PCR test," DHS (MI) said.

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FRESH CASES

On the 15 new positive cases detected on Saturday, Dr. Warr informed that 07 of the new positive cases are from East Khasi Hills which include 04 BSF personnel and three returnees from Assam and Bihar.

Four new positive cases were detected in Ri-Bhoi and these include 03 high-risk contacts of the health workers working at the entry point and one is an attendant of a patient, who was admitted in the Orthopaedics Ward in North Eastern Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) and discharged on July 06.

Another case was detected in South West Garo Hills.

Dr. Warr further informed that they have decided to activate the TB Hospital at Umsawli as the Corona Care Centre adding that another two medical institutes in Ri-Bhoi district — GNM School of Nursing and the MCH Hospital at Umran will be converted into Corona Care Centre if the need arises.

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