A day after Goa reported its first cases of COVID-19 with three men testing positive, the State Health Department on Thursday said it had identified up to 14 high-risk people, who had come in contact with the three.
After reports of the three men, aged 25, 29 and 55, with a travel history to Spain, Australia and the U.S., the State administration put all the 14 under quarantine at Goa Medical and Hospital in Bambolim. “We are providing the best healthcare facility to the three diagnosed with the novel coronavirus. Their condition is stable. Fourteen others who have direct exposure to these three have been placed in quarantine after contact- tracing,” Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said.
Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said the government was following all the guidelines laid down by the Central government and taking all precautions. Our own testing facility will be up and running in two days. Our team of doctors are doing their best to make sure we contain the spread of the virus in the State,” he said.
Meanwhile, Goa Forward Party president and former deputy chief minister Vijai Sardessai crticised the government’s abject failure in providing groceries and essential commodities to Goans. He said, “People have been suffering for the last two days. This makes us demand that all groceries be categorised as essential commodities as per Centre’s guidelines and social distancing be also enforced.”
The Congress’s leader of opposition, Digamber Kamat, called upon Governor Satyapal Malik’s intervention. “I am confident his intervention will bring relief to the people of Goa. I once again appeal to all the people to follow social distancing,” Mr. Kamat said.
In a related development, a Goan advocate petitioned before the High Court on account of scarcity of essential commodities and lack of a mechanism to provide basic food supply to vulnerable wage workers. The petition filed by Rohit Bras de Sa said the people of Goa are struggling to find even basic goods to sustain themselves in curfew days.
Meanwhile, the Goa University in a notification indefinitely postponed all examinations.
Govt. bows to pressure
After facing widespread criticism, the Goa government late on Thursday announced that all shops and establishments dealing with groceries, vegetables and other essential supplies would be allowed to stay open from Friday
Addressing a press conference, Chief Minister, Dr. Pramod Sawant said the decision was taken as a section of people and opposition MLAs were criticising his government for imposing a total lockdown.
“The idea behind a 100% lockdown was to cut the spread of the coronavirus. We have three confirmed cases. There are two cases in Bengaluru and Shimla who had travelled from Goa. There are also many who have not followed home quarantine as required. The government has taken a note of all this. If there is a spread in cases, then it is not because the government did not act, but because people were careless. There are people who have taken to social media to criticise me personally. Our decisions have always been in the best interest of Goa,” Dr. Sawant said.
