Shillong: Days after Manipur became the first Northeastern state to report a case of Omicron, neighbouring Meghalaya reported five cases of the new variant of Covid-19 on Tuesday.
Of the five, three people are from Shillong and two are from Saiden village in Ri-Bhoi district, according to Health and Family Welfare Department Director Aman War. All the five people had recently returned to the state from the other states of India.
The northeast had remained safe from the new variant until a 48-year-old man from Manipur, who had recently visited Tanzania, tested positive for Omicron last week, becoming the first case of the new Covid-19 variant region.
In Meghalaya, a total of 84,881 people have been infected with 32 more people testing positive for the disease on Tuesday. With one more death, the toll went up to 1,485. The hill state has 97 active cases on Tuesday while 83,299 people have recovered from the disease so far.
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Meghalaya government on Monday decided to regulate the entry of people into the state and imposed certain other restrictions from January 5, to prevent the spread of Omicron. Additionally, Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma on Tuesday reviewed the Covid-19 related scenario. "Keeping in mind the economic activities of the people, the government would come up with some restrictions in the next few days in the state," he told the media later.
