PANAJI
Goa’s Covid graph experienced a major spike on Wednesday with 527 cases testing positive for Covid-19. The Health Department has recorded 1,161 new cases since the start of this week, the steepest increase in the curve experienced in the state over the last six months.
The daily positivity rate shot up to 20 per cent on Wednesday.
At the start of the week, on April 4, the total Covid cases in Goa were 59,068 and on Wednesday, the number rose to 60,229. Over these four days, the active cases have also risen by 781 and the recovery rate has dropped by 1.2 per cent.
Two Covid-related deaths were recorded in the mortality bulletin of the Health Department raising the Covid victim count of Goa to 840.
The deceased persons include a 58-year-old man from Camurlim and a 57-year-old man from Ponda, both of whom passed away at Goa Medical College and Hospital, Bambolim.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane convened an emergency meeting with all Heads of Department (HODs) to strategize Covid management with the facility struggling to make space for Covid patients in the wake of the spike in cases.
“We have collectively decided to resume the telephone service for booking OPD appointments. Pandals will be put up for seamless management of out-patients. Patient relatives will be restricted and there will be strict implementation of SOPs at GMC,” Rane stated.
It was also learnt that Covid Care Centres proposed at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee stadium in Bambolim and Nehru stadium at Fatorda are likely to be up and running by the weekend even as 275 beds shown on paper in the Covid Care Centres of North Goa continue to remain completely vacant.
On the vaccination front, the Health Department disclosed that a total of 25,365 eligible persons have been fully vaccinated in Goa to date while 1.2 lakh have received the first dose and are awaiting their booster dose in the coming days.
Health Minister Rane appealed to the people to strictly adhere to the protocols of wearing a mask and maintaining social distancing in view of the surge in cases. “All the citizens eligible for vaccination must come forward to take the vaccine,” he said.
