Meghalaya CM observing home quarantine on return from Manipur

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma is observing home quarantine on return from a visit to Manipur, officials said on Monday. The National Peoples Party (NPP) supremo had made a trip to Manipur capital Imphal on Sunday to meet party MLAs, who switched allegiance from supporting the BJP to the Congress last week. "The chief minister is observing home quarantine since his return yesterday. His swab samples were collected today by a team of health officials," Health Services director Aman War told PTI.

He said, depending on the outcome of the RT-PCR test of the samples, the CM will have to follow guidelines accordingly. According to the health services director, Conrad can resume work after three days if his samples tested negative or else, if positive, the health authorities shall take a call. The state protocol for novel coronavirus says that anyone moving in and out of the state within a day can resume work if their RT-PCR tests come out negative, War said. Meghalaya has recorded 44 cases of COVID-19 till date, of which 37 of them, have recovered and one had died.

Six persons who tested positive for COVID-19 are observing quarantine protocols. Sangma had air-dashed to Manipur capital with Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to iron out differences between legislators of his party and the BJP. The two had returned the same day. The Congress leaders had raised questions that while their leaders, Ajay Maken and Gaurav Gogoi, were straightway placed under quarantine on arrival in Imphal Friday evening, the same protocols were not applied on Sangma and Sarma who freely mingled with people during their stay.

Four NPP ministers, including Deputy Chief Minister Y Joykumar, had resigned from the BJP-led coalition in the neighbouring state of Manipur on Wednesday. Besides, them five other legislators had quit the Biren Singh government plunging it into trouble. After walking out of the ruling coalition, the NPP legislators were seen in the company of Congress leaders in Manipur.

(Image credits: PTI)