SHILLONG: Meghalaya government has focused on “micro-management” of the present COVID-19 situation which is still under control, the Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said.
He was speaking at a high -level review meeting of all party MLAs on the prevailing COVID-19 situation at the conference room of MLA hostel here.
He said, “The only way is to be ready with a quick response system in place so that in case of detection of a new case, a particular house or locality is contained so that normal life of other people is not affected. It is in the nascent stage and requires refining”.
He said it was not feasible to keep the state/city under lockdown and stall economic activities and hence the “micro-management concept”.
Though a number of cases have gone up in the past few weeks, Sangma said that these were in a controlled environment and involved only specific clusters that have shown spikes in numbers. It is ensured that the disease will not spread beyond certain cluster limit.
He added that the government will leave no stone unturned for the safety of the people and will take whatever strict measures are required to ensure that the people are safe.
“COVID-19 is here to stay for some time and we will not run away from it or “block/lockdown every time something happens we need to adjust and we need to adapt and learn how to live with the virus”, Sangma said.
Explaining further, he said that the strategies of micro-management involved information sharing of not just the positive patient but high risk contacts as well with the traditional heads such as the headmen of different rangbah shnongs and nokmas
Meanwhile, Speaker of Meghalaya Legislative Assembly, Metbah Lyngdoh said that though Government had put out sincere efforts to arrest the spread of COVID-19 cases, the number of cases had gone up following the arrival of BSF personnel and armed forces from their holidays and there was the wedding party (Greenwood Resort in Khanapara).
“The number of cases among common people is muss less compared to other areas”, he said adding that the people should work together to see that cases don’t go up.
Congress leader H.M. Shangpliang said things were under control and everyone who were traced had been under quarantine.
“We are satisfied with the way the government is handling the situation”, he said. The Congress leader gave few suggestions such as restrictions on inter-state movement to be continued except allowing emergency cases, transit vehicles along the highway without any stop on the way, the government is to inform about the identity of such persons or let the local authorities know to avoid confusion.
As for the behavioural change strategy adopted by the government, Shangpliang said that the government should make enough publicity and sensitise the people.