TURA: The Meghalaya Youth Congress on Tuesday urged the state government to first chalk out a plan and work in tandem with respective state governments before bringing students and workers stranded in other states who want to come back.
“The Meghalaya government needs to work with its counterparts in other states to make arrangements for their travel back. In the meanwhile, arrangements must be made to quarantine them in every district so that when they return they can be quarantined for at least a minimum for 30 days or more in their home district without unnecessarily putting others at risk,” Youth Congress president Richard M Marak said.
Marak added that immediately after they are accommodated in designated quarantine centres, everyone must be tested and further re-testing should be done keeping in view that there is variation in the incubation period as informed by experts. According to Marak, those under quarantine should be allowed to go home only after getting a clean chit of health from the concerned authorities.
Marak urged the government to ensure that ‘controlled evacuation’ of the stranded citizens is done and proper screening and (quarantine measures are taken before they are sent home as home-quarantine by themselves cannot be guaranteed and some might even violate the orders.
Marak also sought the need for more testing as well as setting up of more testing centres in the state, while at the same time raising the need to create awareness on the stigma being associated with COVID-19.
