THURSDAY, 17 SEPTEMBER 2026

Health Minister backtracks on lockdown

PANAJI

Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Tuesday volte faced his explicit demand for the imposition of a 30-day State-wide lockdown and said that he merely meant stricter restrictions on movement of people in areas where Covid cases are high.

“If we don’t bring this wave under control in the coming 15 to 20 days, we stand to lose 200 to 300 more lives. When I said lockdown, I didn’t mean lockdown the whole state. Essential commodities like pharma and all these things will continue. Where there are superspreader areas, the restrictions should become very tough. The health system is getting overloaded,” he said.

When asked if there is no unanimity between him and CM Sawant, Rane tried to duck the question by stating, “When I say lockdown, I don’t mean shut all industries. Strict restrictions are required in a different way. Restriction on movement on people is all I asked for and it is a must in certain superspreader areas.”

Just a day ago, Rane had tweeted, “The time has come for Goa to go under a complete lockdown at least for a month as we cannot afford to lose more lives and I shall appeal to the Chief Minister regarding the same”.




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31 more dead, 160 succumb in a week; CM says no lockdown

THE GOAN NETWORK
Published Apr 28, 2021, 12:40 AM IST
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PANAJIGoa’s nightmare continued on Tuesday with the second wave of Covid pandemic claiming 31 more lives. The Health Department has recorded a total of 160 deaths and 12,596 new Covid cases over the last eight days and the present Covid death toll of the state has touched 1,086. Despite this horrific turn of events, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant remained non-committal on adoption of any effective measures to rein in the Covid tsunami that continues to swallow the…

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