Following a massive spike in COVID-19 cases in Goa that went to polls during the year-end festivities, the state government on Monday imposed a night curfew in the coastal state from 11 pm to 6 am.
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant took this decision at a meeting of the State Task Force on COVID-19 today.
The delay in enforcing curfew rules by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has quickly snowballed into a burning political issue in electoral states with several opposition parties, including the Congress, recklessly accusing Mr Sawant of “playing with people’s lives”. accused of doing. In the new year without any inhibitions despite clear evidence of increasing infection since December 25 last year.
The state on Sunday recorded its biggest single-day jump in COVID-19 cases since May last year with 388 infections. Officials said the case positivity rate has crossed 10%.
The weekly COVID-19 positivity rate in the state is around 5%. The government is also expected to impose restrictions on indoor activities.
In addition, colleges in the coastal state will also remain closed till January 26, while all physical sessions for classes 8 and 9 have been stopped in schools from Tuesday to January 26, informed Shekhar Salkar, a member of the state task force on COVID-19. Did. ,
At the same time, officials said that though the number of COVID-19 cases in the state had increased drastically since December 25 last year, the rate of death and hospitalization was low.
Meanwhile, 66 passengers have tested positive out of 2,000 samples tested cordelia cruise ship. The ship had arrived from Mumbai and is currently docked at the Mormugao Cruise Terminal.
Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said the Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) staff and the concerned collectors have been apprised of the issue and they will accordingly decide whether to allow the passengers to disembark.
On Sunday, a crew member on the ship had tested positive. Since then, officials have instructed all passengers to remain on the cruise ship until their test results are out.
Mr Rane further informed that the State has reported four more cases of Omicron COVID-19 type, taking the total number of Omicron cases in the State to five.
“Some samples sent to National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune for genome sequencing confirm four more cases of Omicron in the state of Goa,” Rane tweeted.
The minister said that one patient is from the state and has no travel history, indicating the possibility of indigenous spread of omicrons which needs further investigation. Rane said he would discuss the next step with Chief Minister Sawant.
The state currently has 1,671 active cases – a huge increase from around 450 cases on December 26.
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