SHILLONG, Oct 22: Health Minister, James PK Sangma said the state government is preparing for the worst in case a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic strikes Meghalaya.
“COVID-19 has taught a big lesson that we cannot be prepared enough. As a government, we hope that there is no third,” Sangma told reporters on Friday.
He assured that the government will try to be prepared in the best possible way in case of the outbreak of the third wave.
Sangma said he would not deny the vaccination hesitancy prevalent in the state.
According to him, there is a sense of mistrust and misinformation about the vaccine is not making things easier.
“It has proven that the vaccine softens the impact of the virus in any person. Many of the cases that resulted in fatalities are of patients or individuals who were not vaccinated,” he said.
The Health Minister urged the people to come forward for vaccination since it is the only option to fight the virus.
59 fresh cases, two deaths
Meanwhile, the state on Friday recorded 59 fresh COVID-19 cases while two more patients succumbed to the infection taking the death toll to 1,443.
The active tally now stands at 698 while 81,128 patients have recovered so far including 95 on the day.
45 fresh cases were reported in East Khasi Hills, four each in West Jaintia Hills and West Khasi Hills, three in Ri Bhoi, two in West Garo Hills and one in South West Khasi Hills.
Meghalaya has administered a total of 16,88,114 doses of COVID-19 vaccine as on Friday. 10,94,412 have been inoculated with the first dose while 5,93,702 have taken both the doses.
