Meghalaya power minister James K Sangma and his family have tested negative for Covid19.

Cabinet minister Sangma and his family tested negative in both antigen and truenat tests conducted at Tura in West Garo Hills.

He revealed that none of them had come in contact with any Covid19 positive patients.

Sangma in a tweet said: “As responsible citizens, me and my family along with my staff got ourselves tested for Covid-19 with the Antigen and Truenat tests today at Tura even though none of us came in contact with any Covid positive patients.”

Minister Sangma said although his driver tested positive for Covid19 in antigen test, the test result came out negative in truenat test.

“All of us tested negative although my driver was declared positive in the Antigen test but came out negative in the Truenat test,” Sangma said.

However, as a preventive measure, the driver has been quarantined in the Corona Care Centre at Tura.

His sample has been collected for RT-PCR test. However, the test result is awaited.

“To be on the safe side, he (driver) has been quarantined in the Corona Care Centre at Tura and has also undergone an RT-PCR test for confirmation of his Covid status and we are awaiting the result,” the minister added.

In Meghalaya, a 67-year-old positive patient passed away at NEIGRIHMS in Shillong on Thursday night, taking the state’s COVID19 death toll to 5.

The patient was taken to North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) on Wednesday due to difficulty in breathing, DHS (MI) Dr Aman War said, quoting NEIGRIHMS official.

According to the latest update, Meghalaya currently has a total of 448 active COVID19 cases.

Out of the positive cases, 306 cases are from the BSF and other armed forces while 142 cases are civilians.

A total of 82 patients have recovered from the disease in the state, informed Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K Sangma in a tweet.