SHILLONG, Dec 15: The East Khasi Hills district administration has asserted that delay in reporting of COVID-19 cases at hospitals is one of the prime reasons behind the rise in the number of fatalities, while also warning of action against those refusing to comply with the Health department’s directives.
The District Medical and Health Officer of East Khasi Hills stressed on the need to not ignore symptoms, especially among the elderly and persons with co-morbid conditions, and for people to report to the nearest health facility without delay. The matter cropped up for discussion during the meeting of the District COVID-19 Task Force at the office of the Deputy Commissioner held to review the status of COVID-19 cases, testing and deaths in the district.
Moreover, the District Surveillance Officer submitted that there have been many incidences where COVID-infected persons as well as high risk individuals do not reveal their contacts.
Contacts also refuse to undergo testing, hence obstructing the health authorities to get a complete picture of the extent of transmission, which may lead to untested carriers of the virus to infect others and eventually a spike in the number of infections, the officer informed.
In the meeting, it was also revealed that three random testing sites in commercial areas of Shillong will also be set up.
In view of a few localities reporting more than 20 cases, it was decided that active surveillance will continue in such areas and if necessary, they will be contained to ensure that the transmission chain is broken.
Informing that there have been seven deaths reported in a span of one week as of December 13, the District Surveillance Officer informed that the total case fatality rate in the district stands at 1.3 per cent. However, the case fatality rate among the elderly is high – at 10 per cent – while 82 per cent of the total deaths are of persons with co-morbidities.
On this, East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner Isawanda Laloo stressed on the need to closely monitor the elderly population and persons with co-morbidities.
With the advent of the festive season and a large number of weddings and other gatherings taking place, the DC called for strict adherence to protocols.
She further appealed for no stigma to be associated with positive cases or high risk contacts as this prevents the persons from extending their full cooperation due to fear of being stigmatised.
Later, the task force resolved to carry out intensive drives and monitoring in all commercial areas.