SHILLONG, May 20: The Health department has attributed the rise in the number of cases to the increase in the number of tests in the state.
Meghalaya on Thursday recorded its highest tally of 1,183 fresh cases. It was for the first time since April 2020 that the number of fresh cases has crossed the 1,000-mark on a single day.
“We have increased our testing capacity with the objective to detect the positive cases in the community,” Health and Family Welfare Principal Secretary, Sampath Kumar said.
According to him, one out of 20 people has been testing positive.
He said the number of tests carried out in East Khasi Hills district on Thursday was close to 1,200.
“The confirmed positive cases are 23.75 per cent. Out of these, 79 per cent are asymptomatic and 21 per cent are symptomatic,” Kumar said.
He also said 665 tests were carried out in Ri-Bhoi district with 265 turning out to be positive, most of them asymptomatic.
About 30 per cent of 292 tests done in West Garo Hills came out positive.
“The number of asymptomatic cases in the district is 30 per cent while 70 per cent are symptomatic. The number of symptomatic cases is more only in West Garo Hills,” Kumar said.
He said the only way to reduce the spread of the virus is through large containment measures.
“The situation is grim and cases are rising. Lockdown in many states like Maharashtra and Karnataka has helped reduce the number of cases. We also decided to impose this total lockdown to stop the movement of people,” he said.
The Principal Secretary further said it is important to wear masks and maintain physical distance even at home in the next 10 days.
“We are trying to reach out to each and every household and provide training on how to contain and treat the virus. Self-responsibility is very important to prevent the spread of this infectious virus,” he said.
Kumar also said it is important that any symptom should be treated as COVID and should people should immediately start isolating themselves.
“We should not wait for the testing since the health condition might deteriorate. We should start treatment immediately. We have seen that people go to the hospitals after five-six days and in many cases and they succumb to the infection,” he said.
Director of Health Services (MI), Aman War said the number of cases has increased because testing and contact-tracing of positive cases have increased.
“We expect the cases to come down with the total lockdown being imposed,” he added.
On more people from the COVID-19 infection, Dr War said the casualty figure will come down as people have started to go for early treatment after experiencing any kind of symptoms. Early intervention in critical cases can help bring down the number of deaths, he added.
“Yesterday, we had around 800 cases and if we presume 10 people came into contact with one positive person, we will have to do contact-tracing of 8,000 people. This will lead to more cases but help us take precautions too,” he said.
According to Dr War, there is every possibility of cases coming down gradually since the people are now inside their homes and not mingling. A spike in the number of positive cases had forced the state government to enforce a complete lockdown in East Khasi Hills district.
The DHS (MI) allayed fears about black fungus infection in Meghalaya.
“Black fungus is mainly found from the humidifier of the oxygen regulator, so we have instructed that the water needs to be changed every now and then and even the sponge which acts as a filter has to be changed,” he said.
