Guwahati: Amid yet another surge in COVID-19 cases in Meghalaya, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday took to Twitter took to Twitter to rubbish reports of an impending lockdown.
"There are rumors and fake news that there is a lockdown in Shillong from July 10th; I would like to clarify that the Government of Meghalaya has taken NO such decision", Sangma clarified on Twitter.
Sangma's clarification has come at a time when the Government of Meghalaya has come under increasing pressure due to a sharp spike in the number of COVID-19 cases. The situation has been further compounded by the rapid surge of cases in neighboring Assam -- where the main city of Guwahati has already reached the pandemic stage. Likewise, Meghalaya has also been reporting a steady rise in the number of cases of the virus that has till now killed 5.4 lakh people across the globe.
On Monday, one more death was reported in the state when an 8-month-old baby who traveled around 400 km from Arunachal Pradesh to Meghalaya via Assam for treatment, died after testing positive for the respiratory disease. The baby was referred to the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) in Meghalaya capital Shillong from Arunachal Pradesh's Tomo Riba Institute of Health and Medical Sciences for treatment, officials said.
Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong yesterday said that there is a possibility of a lockdown being reimposed in the State if the COVID-19 situation worsens even as he allayed fears of community transmission in Meghalaya. "If the situation worsens or continues to be grim, I think we will have no option (but to reimpose lockdown)," Tynsong said.
He also appealed to the people to follow the COVID-19 protocols. It may be mentioned that there was a surge in COVID-19 cases across Meghalaya last week. On Monday, the State recorded the highest single-day spike with 16 new cases.
Meanwhile, India reported 22,752 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total so far to 7,42,417, Union health ministry data showed. The number of deaths has risen to 20,642 with 482 deaths in the last 24 hours. A total of 4,56,831 have recovered and the recovery rate is 61.53 percent. India trails only the USA and Brazil in the number of COVID-19 cases.