Active COVID cases reach 1178: Meghalaya

UT News Service | SHILLONG, Aug 25: With 42 more people testing positive for COVID-19 and 43 people recovering from the virus on Tuesday, Meghalaya now has a total of 1,178 active cases and the total number of positive cases recorded so far is now at  2,018.

Director of Health Services (MI), Dr. Aman War said 31 fresh cases were detected in East Khasi Hills, which include 21 civilians and 10 armed forces and paramilitary forces (AF-PF), 6 from West Garo Hills, 3 from Ri Bhoi and 1 each from West Jaintia Hills and North Garo Hills.

He said the 16 of 31 cases in East Khasi Hills are high risk contacts, 3 are from random sampling at North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (2) and Woodland Hospital (1), a returnee and one is influenza like illness (ILI) case.

He said these cases are from Anjalee, Punjabi Lane, Goenka Kamakya, Lumparing, Mawlai Umjaiur, Mawlai Mawtawar, Barapathar, Dhankheti (where 2 employees of Life Insurance Company (LIC) tested positive), Rilbong, Nongkseh, Bishnupur and Barapani.

He also informed that a health worker, who is a lab technician has also tested positive for COVID-19 at the Maternal and Child Hospital in Jowai under West Jaintia Hills, while the cases in Ri Bhoi District include 1 returnee, 1 ILI case and 1 who tested for immigration procedure, while in West Garo Hills the cases detected include 4 high risk contacts, 1 AF-PF and 1 returnee.

Dr. War also informed that 43 more patients, which include 32 from West Garo Hills (25 AF-PF, 7 others), 7 from Ri Bhoi, 3 from East Khasi Hills and 1 from South West Khasi Hills have recovered from the viral infection. With this, the total recoveries in the state have gone up to 832.

With the highest number of active cases, East Khasi Hills has 797 of which 512 are civilians and 285 are AF-PF, followed by West Garo Hills with 197 (123 AF-PF and 74 civilians) and Ri Bhoi has 94 cases that include 70 civilians and 24 AF-PF.

The district wise break-up of COVID cases in other districts are 43 cases in West Khasi Hills, 13 in North Garo Hills, 4 in South West Garo Hills, 3 each in East Garo Hills and West Jaintia Hills and 12 each in South Garo Hills and East Jaintia Hills.

As of today, a total of 76,762 samples have been sent for testing of which 74,293 were found to be negative while test results of 451 are awaited. There are a total of 30,755 entrants from outside the state.

Meanwhile, the state has so far recorded a total of 2,018 positive cases due to COVID-19, of which 1,178 are active and eight deaths.