SHILLONG: The Meghalaya government, which is fighting a battle against the deadly COVID-19, may have to spend upto Rs 100 crore to ensure that the disease is contained in the state.
Speaking on the matter, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said that the government has taken the extreme step of salary deferment to ensure that there is no paucity of funds in the state’s battle with COVID-19. “As long as we are in the battle fighting against COVID-19, we would not have any problem as far as fund position is concerned,” he said.
It was learnt that the government has earmarked Rs 100 crore. “I am not saying that we are going to spend Rs 100 crore now but we are ready at any point of time as this is a battle field and we need to fight it to ensure that there is no infection in the state,” Tynsong said.
Meghalaya government, ever since the breakout of COVID-19 in the country, had purchased over 1 lakh Personal Protection Equipment, lakhs of masks, and thousands of hand sanitisers besides the food and ration of hundreds of people who are in quarantine.
In response to a query about large part of the population in the state not getting tested for COVID-19 especially in Garo Hills, Tynsong made it clear that the government cannot test each and every citizen of the state as the population of the state is around 35 lakh.
Citing an example, he said that when Dr Sailo was tested positive, his contacts of about 6,500 people were traced and all of them were put under home quarantine.
“We deployed dedicated teams to monitor them and whenever symptoms were noticed, their tests were conducted and in the absence of any symptoms, tests were not conducted,” Tynsong said.
He also said during summer, flu is common and the moment anyone develops symptoms, the government takes their samples.
