Test returnees : COVID Task Force in Meghalaya

    24-May-2020
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Newmai News Network
Shillong, May 24: Convener of the Covid-19 task force, Dorbar Shnong Smit Pyllun, Khliansing Warshong informed that the four returnees under quarantine at the Smit Higher Secondary School are yet to undergo the PCR test.
“We have seen positive Covid-19 cases being reported in Manipur and other States. Now we want our government to also take the samples of these four people so that they will also be reassured,” he said adding that for the remaining returnees who have already returned to the state have been tested and are awaiting the report.
“Once they test negative they will come and stay in the quarantine centre,” Warshong said.
He also said that the Dorbar Shnong is expecting to accommodate a total of 23 people at the quarantine centre after their arrival from different parts of the country.
When asked, he said that when the four returnees arrived in the State, the government had not taken the decision to conduct the PCR test and had sent them to the locality and they were received by the Dorbar Shnong and taken to the quarantine centre.
“We have appraised the doctor in the PHC and also the BDO about this and asked for the PCR to be conducted on them,” he said.
Stating that there was an initial delay in the delivery of dry rations for the returnees, Warshong urged the State Government to ensure timely delivery of this aid to those undergoing quarantine.
“The Dorbar Shnong is already facing fund constraints under the lockdown situation so if the dry ration doesn’t reach on time, it becomes a problem. The parents of returnees have already incurred so much expense. Some of them paid between Rs 8000 to Rs 9000 just for bus fares,” he added.
He also said that the Rs 5000 one-time financial assistance promised by the State government to active quarantine centres is too meager an amount.
“The government has to be practical and it cannot give the Rs 5000 assistance to a quarantine centre with only one returnee and the same assistance to a quarantine centre with over 20 returnees,” he reasoned.
Warshong said that the Shillong Municipal Board should collect all the gloves and masks every three days after these items have been used and discarded at the centre. “It has already been one week but the municipal staff members are yet to come and collect the used gloves and masks from this school which is not right,” he said. Meanwhile, ‘Ka Sur U Paidbah Ka Bri U Hynniewtrep’ donated financial assistance of Rs 10,000 to the Dorbar Shnong Smit Pyllun to help out those undergoing quarantine at Smit Higher Secondary School.
At present there are eight returnees undergoing quarantine in the centre and another fifteen returnees are expected to arrive in the next few days.