Taking precautionary steps in view of the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country, Meghalaya has listed 13 hospitals across the state which will have isolation wards.
Informing this on Friday, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said that there would be isolation wards in 13 hospitals and the government is taking more precautionary steps while monitoring the situation.
Earlier, health minister, A L Hek said that not a single case of COVID-19 has been suspected or confirmed in the state.
He said that all measures are being taken to prevent the spread of the virus.
The chief minister said that a number of private hospitals have also been contacted to take necessary steps, adding that screening of people especially foreigners are going on at various airports.
Urging people not to panic, Sangma informed that 61 students from Meghalaya who had returned from China and kept under observation for 28 days, out of which, 54 of them have come out without any symptoms of having been infected with the virus.
According to the chief minister, the remaining seven students are being monitored and the 28 days of observing them will also end soon.
On holding trade fairs and big events in the state which will have participants and materials from foreign countries, Sangma said that taking into consideration the advisory, trade fairs would not go ahead in the state.
The confirmed COVID-19 cases in India have a travel history of Thailand and Malaysia.
There are now 31 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country after another suspect was tested positive on Friday. This includes 16 Italian nationals.
As per the latest advisory, all international passengers irrespective of nationality are mandated to undergo universal medical screening.
Adequate screening measures have been set up, and nine more airports have been added to the existing 21, bringing the total to 30 airports.
A national-level training on Covid-19 was also organized by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and WHO on Friday.
The training was attended by 280 health officials from all states, and hospitals of railways, defence, and paramilitary forces. It was also virtually attended by 1000 nodes across the country.