SHILLONG: Citizens of Meghalaya, who were stranded in different Northeastern states due to the ongoing lockdown, started returning to the state on Tuesday with 284 people comprising the first batch.
Informing this, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said that the first batch of people includes those who returned by their own vehicles.
All have been sent for 14-day home quarantine with none detected positive for COVID-19.
Tynsong said that out of the four entry and exit points, 32 people entered from Ratacherra, 205 from Byrnihat, 39 from Bajengdoba and eight from Tikrikilla.
They had arranged their own transport and have been released to go home with strict advisories to quarantine themselves for 14 days.
Tynsong also informed that the second batch of citizens will be arriving by Wednesday by transport arranged by the state government.
About those stranded across the country, he said that registration is still on. He has also urged over 8,000 citizens to stay where they are until the end of this month.
He reasoned that the state first has to deal with those returning from the Northeastern states, which in itself is a massive exercise and will take at least two weeks for things to settle.
Pointing out that there are a lot of red zones across the country, he informed that those who come back from these areas would have to be under mandatory quarantine for 28 days.
Talking about decisions taken in the review meeting held earlier during the day, Tynsong said that the state government will now allow authorised vehicle dealers to open their workshops for both light and heavy vehicles.
Tynsong also said that social distancing was not followed when shops opened, especially the wine stores, and requested the public to strictly follow it.
The number of samples tested so far is 1944 of which 1822 were negative while results were awaited for 110 and active case is one.
Quarantine SOP
Meanwhile, clarifying on the quarantine period for the returnees, Dr Aman War, Director, Health Services, said there are no more primary and secondary contacts but those tested henceforth will be classified as high-risk and low-risk.
In case there is a problem of space the returnee will be kept in a state-sponsored isolation facility. During that period those under the 14-day quarantine regimen will be regularly checked by the Health department officials. After the 14-day supervised quarantine, they will have to undergo another 14-day self-quarantine during which they will do self-reporting to the officials about their health status.
In case any returnee is tested COVID-19 positive the person will be treated as per protocol in a designated hospital and will remain there until the tests are negative, Dr War informed.
