Government forms the communications unit for COVID

SHILLONG, May 16: The Meghalaya government has established the Covid-19 State Communications Unit which will be headed by Matsiewdor War Nongbri, secretary, Department of Information and Public Relations.
According to the notification, the responsibility of this unit includes developing effective health communication for COVID-19.
It will also act as a central repository system and bring together information from various sources such as the National Health Mission, Health Services Directorate (DHS), DC office, etc., and ensure that communications Public health essentials relating to COVID-19 are available under an umbrella and rapidly disseminated among the masses to increase awareness.
The unit was also tasked with providing feedback on all outgoing Covid-19 communication media, and identifying and building relationships with major media channels to direct them to updated government sources for data. and COVID information.
The communications unit will summon a team of translators to ensure that any material to be reproduced in Hindi, Khasi and Garo is done as soon as possible, officials said.
The unit will mobilize a panel of experts specializing in public health to answer questions about Covid-19. It will further assess ongoing awareness-raising efforts and their impact, monitor progress and identify gaps in the existing strategy.
Senior Secretary of Health and Family Welfare Sampath Kumar said the coordination unit, with help from the Directorate of Information and Public Relations, will lead an aggressive campaign on COVID-19 across the state next week.
Kumar said this campaign will focus on containment, vaccination and treatment.
“People need to be aware of these three things. Containment means prevention, masking and social distancing. If we don’t follow this, we will land in hospitals for treatment, ”Kumar said.
According to him, treatment consists of quickly recognizing the symptoms.
“People shouldn’t take risks every time they have symptoms. They should self-isolate and start taking the drug even before the test. This will help prevent people from landing in serious condition, ”Kumar said.