SHILLONG: Confusion reigned supreme over a lady, who became the 13th to test positive for COVID-19 in the state on Saturday, with the Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma, claiming she is from the house of the index patient and the family stoutly denying it.
The lady had earlier tested negative for the virus. The denial by the family that led to the confusion prompted the chief minister to tweet once again in the evening to stand by what he had said earlier when he announced detection of the 13th positive case.
“There has been some confusion and discussion on my earlier tweet… I would like to mention that what I stated in my earlier tweet is factual”, the chief minister insisted.
However, the son of Dr John Sailo Ryntathiang, who is the index patient and has since passed away, in a statement clarified that the latest person to test positive is not from the house of the late doctor.
He also said that there was no contact between the latest case and any of the members of (L) Dr J L Sailo Ryntathiang’s family since April 15. “ The contacts whom she has been exposed to from April 15 onwards cannot be accounted for,” he said. Informing about the detection of the latest positive case, the chief minister had earlier said, “Unfortunately we have another positive case in Shillong. It’s a person working in the same house. As a precaution health department was retesting all the primary contacts and in the process we found this positive case. The person is safe and healthy and showing no symptoms.”
He told media persons later that the new COVID-19 patient was among the 181 high-risk primary contacts that the government had identified.
He said she was the maid servant of the senior doctor who had died of COVID-19.
“We had done a retest on these 181 high-risk primary contacts even though the protocols don’t require us to do it. Now, we feel it was the right decision to ensure that we are safer,” the chief minister said.
“We had done the test on April 16 and the test came out negative. But the person and her whole family was put under quarantine,” Sangma said.
He also said that the husband and two children who are the primary contacts tested negative.
Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong , too asserted that the lady is from the same source of the index patient and she happens to be another maid of the family .
He also informed that the maid servant went under quarantine immediately on April 14 and she tested negative on April 16.
He also added that as the government once again went for re-testing of the high risk contact, she tested positive on Saturday and has been sent to the corona care centre in Shillong Civil Hospital for treatment.