Toll climbs to 862; officials warn health infra may crumble
PANAJI
A whopping 757 new infections were recorded in the 24-hours of Wednesday-Thursday ringing alarm bells among the medical fraternity and the State government’s Covid-19 response think-tank.
Also, five more succumbed to the dreaded virus in the same 24-hour period including two under-45 patients -- a 37-year-old man from Nerul and a man from Ponda aged 42. With Thursday’s five dead, Goa’s official pandemic death toll hit the 862 mark.
Health officials meanwhile are worried that the second wave which according to national trends could be even more severe and crumble the State’s health infrastructure.
Interestingly, the premier healthcare facility in the State -- the Goa Medical College and Hospital, (GMC&H) Bambolim -- is yet to be notified again as the epicentre of Covid-19 treatment after it had been de-notified a few months ago.
The Covid-19 hospital (ESI Hospital) in Margao remains Goa’s core medical facility to tackle the clinical challenge of the pandemic.
Wednesday-Thursday’s 757 new cases are Goa’s highest single-day spike and have raised the tally of Covid-19 cases to 64,572.
The 757 new Covid cases also raised the count of Goa’s ‘active cases’ above the 5,000 mark at 5,682.
The positivity rate climbed to nearly 28 per cent and the cities of Margao and Mapusa, where civic elections are in progress and campaigning for it could prove to be a super-spreader, were among the cities with the highest active cases.
The haphazardly planned and thickly populated Porvorim meanwhile topped the charts with 558 cases.
The capital Panaji has 398, Ponda (380), Candolim (321) and Cortalim 284 active cases.
Of the five dead on Thursday, Health officials said two were ‘brought dead’ to the Hospicio Hospital in Margao -- a 94-year-old man from Margao and a 74-year-old man from Gogol.
