Till Sunday, Meghalaya was a rare state with no Covid-19 cases. However, in the next four days, the state recorded nine cases, including one death. Strikingly, all the cases were from one family.
The first case surfaced on Monday evening when a prominent doctor, John L Sailo Ryntathiang, was found positive. The news of the 69-year-old founder of Shillong-based Bethany Hospitals surprised many as the doctor didn’t have any recent travel history.
It was quickly surmised that he could have got infected from his son-in-law, a pilot with Air India who had returned from New York to Delhi on March 16 and reached Shillong on March 24. He spent the next 14 days in home quarantine under observation and was asymptomatic.
The initial suspicions couldn’t be substantiated as two tests on the son-in-law came out negative. The state administration quickly sealed Bethany Hospital, placed nearly 2,000 primary and secondary contacts of the first patient in quarantine and started tests on them.
But even before the results could arrive, Ryntathiang passed away in the early hours of Wednesday. Later in the day, six others, family members and helpers of the doctor, were found positive.
The state administration grappling with the fast changing situation faced another one related to last rites of the doctor—the first Covid-19 fatality in the state.
Worried that the virus could spread, residents in Jhalupara refused to allow use of the electric crematorium there. Residents in Nongpoh, where Bethany Hospital has a branch and the doctor had a house, also denied permission to bury the body.
Finally, the state government was able to bury the doctor’s body at the cemetery of Riatsamthiah Presbyterian Church in the Lawmali area of Shillong on Thursday afternoon—after a day’s delay.
“Such incidents are a blot on the society’s consciousness and of great concern to all of us irrespective of party, religion and region. There is an urgent need to educate the people and remove misconceptions on Covid-19,” Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu said in a Facebook post about the Shillong incident.
The state government is also facing flak for its handling of the situation related to the first patient.
“The state government is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that we are able to tackle the situation. There are challenges but what is important is to be able to rectify and improve on the different shortcomings and challenges that we face,” chief minister Conrad Sangma tweeted after the burial.
Later on Thursday night, two more Covid-19 positive cases were reported in the state—both patients were family members of the first patient.
According to a release issued by the Sampath Kumar, commissioner and secretary (health) on Thursday night, 50 medical staff members of the Bethany Hospital have been identified as “high-risk contacts” and tests would be conducted on them.
The Meghalaya government is yet to zero in on the person who is responsible for infecting the first patient.
“We tried to establish if the deceased doctor had contracted the virus from his son-in-law. But there is nothing to indicate that since the sample tests of the son-in-law have come out negative thrice,” health minister AL Hek said in Shillong.
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