Meghalaya will bring back over 2,400 of its stranded citizens from different parts of the Northeast, including Sikkim, from May 5.

There are over 10,000 students and working professionals, who have been stranded in various states ever since the lockdown began on March 24. However, the number includes only those who have provided information to the government on their location.

In the Northeast, 2,104 Meghalaya citizens are in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh (94), Manipur (81), Nagaland (56), Mizoram (40), Tripura (35) and Sikkim (19).

The stranded citizens have been asking the state government to make arrangements for their return to Meghalaya.

In a notification, chief secretary M.S. Rao said the government would make arrangements to bring back its stranded citizens. “We will permit all such movement into the state from May 5 or soon thereafter,” he said.

Those who intend to return to the state will have to fill up an online form (http://meghalayaonline.gov.in/covid/) by May 4. Those who do not have Internet access can register by calling 8132011037, 8433038716, 9711544148, 7338550288 between 9am and 8pm till Monday. Rao said the registration process will be announced as soon as confirmation is received from the Centre about resumption or arrangement of air/rail travel.

The break-up of stranded students and working professionals in other states include Karnataka (2,719), Tamil Nadu (1,164), Maharashtra (685), Bengal (642), Delhi (531), Telangana (357), Kerala (254), Rajasthan (201), Gujarat (194), Uttar Pradesh (194), Andhra Pradesh (175), Uttarakhand (164), Haryana (120), Bihar (101), Goa (101), Madhya Pradesh (78), Punjab (58), Pondicherry (51), Odisha (21), Himachal (16), Jharkhand (15), Chandigarh (7), Chhattisgarh (7) and Andaman and Nicobar (4).

Rao said pre-registration would be mandatory for entering the state. Meghalaya has allowed inter-district movement in “green zones” barring East Khasi Hills. Out of 11 districts, 10 are in the green zone; they have not reported any Covid-19 case.

The government has advised all deputy commissioners in the green zone to allow inter-district movement of persons, provided both the point of origin and destination are in the green zone, and that the transit should not be done through East Khasi Hills.

Recovery: Deputy chief minister Prestone Tynsong on Thursday said eight Covid-19 patients have been “fully cured”, after the second test of their samples came negative.

He said the samples of another three patients have tested negative. Another test will be carried out after 24 hours. The report of the third patient was awaited, he said. With eight recoveries, Meghalaya now has only three active cases. He said 1,595 samples have been tested so far, of which, 1,433 samples have tested negative, while the results of 150 are awaited.