SHILLONG/TURA: As many as 12 persons out of the 873, who returned from Chennai in a special train on Friday night, were tested positive for antibodies through the rapid diagnostic test kits and later five of them were confirmed negative in the retest.
Health and Family Welfare Minister AL Hek said on Saturday that altogether 12 returnees were tested positive initially through rapid test.
The people who were tested positive in the rapid test included 7 from East Khasi Hills, 4 from Tura and 1 from Ri Bhoi.
The four from Garo Hills were later confirmed negative through the True Nat test for COVID 19 at Tura Civil Hospital. True Nat is known to give accurate results. The Indian Council of Medical Research had on April 10 validated the use of True Nat, a diagnostic machine for tuberculosis, for COVID-19 tests.
The council had approved the use of the tuberculosis testing machine for coronavirus screening tests on April 4.
Later, the lone individual from Ri Bhoi was tested negative after samples were sent to NEIGRIHMS for RT-PCR test.
However, the seven returnees from East Khasi Hills, who tested positive for anti bodies, are now being tested through RT-PCR at NEIGRIHMS and their results will be out early Sunday.
Director of Health Services (Medical Institutions), Dr Aman War confirmed that the test result of only seven is awaited.
Commissioner and Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Sampath Kumar said it is important to understand that the rapid diagnostic test for antibodies does not reveal whether a person is COVID-19 positive. The test for antibodies shows up results for a range of corona viruses such as those causing the seasonal flu.
The state government at the moment is allowing close to over 8000 residents of Meghalaya, who were stranded in different parts of the country, to come back to Shillong.
After the first batch of returnees from Chennai, the second batch of citizens from the state consisting of 225 students from Gujarat is scheduled to reach Guwahati on Sunday.
In addition, the third batch of 1500 citizens from Bengaluru will reach Guwahati on May 18.
