Shillong, June 2: Opposition Congress has asked the Meghalaya government to prepare and ramp up facilities in order to deal with the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic. Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister, Dr. Mukul Sangma said they are apprehensive of ‘impending’ third wave and from what they have seen in the world and rest of the country, the target group for the virus will most likely be the population in younger age group.

Talking to reporters after inspecting the Shillong Civil Hospital here on Wednesday, Dr Sangma said, “We are apprehensive of the impending third wave. And the way the virus will manifest, the target group for the virus… from what we have see elsewhere in the world and even in other parts of the country, is that the younger bracket of our age group are falling prey to this COVID-19.”

In light of this, he said the state government must put in place the facilities, which are concerningly still at the stage of preparation, so that even if the caseload rises and the state has to deal with the paediatric cases, then it is ready to do so.

“Let us be very frank, preparation are still on and not completed – so it is only, therefore, appropriate to look at how we can appropriately align the design and integrate all those interventions that is required to deal with the third wave,” he said while adding that considerations have to be taken into account about the “associated challenges of the younger group of our population who can be the likely victims in the third wave”.

He also put out a word of caution that no one really knows how the virus will manifest in the third wave, therefore preparations should be such that even if there is an element of surprise, the state should be able to deal with it.

“How the third wave will manifest itself is always going to be something that needs to be kept in mind. We should always be prepared for an element of surprise. Therefore, we should be prepared to deal with the chances of any third wave,” he advised.