Two who had earlier tested
negative are now positive
PANAJI: The two patients admitted at Covid Hospital who had tested
negative earlier this week have tested positive once again in the two
mandatory retests conducted within a span of 48 hours.
“All seven Covid19 positive cases in Goa remain active. The two
patients, who had tested negative, have tested positive in the two
mandatory tests conducted within 48 hours,” CM Sawant stated.
The update coincides with the latest trend spotted in Wuhan, China
where several recovered Coronavirus patients have been testing
positive again.
CM Sawant, however, insisted that Goa is still in the first stage of
Covid19 pandemic. “Community transmission hasn't begun in the
state. Lockdown and social distancing norms are working,” he
asserted.
PANAJI
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Saturday announced that the state
has recorded its seventh positive case of Covid19, a 32 year-old
male patient who had recently returned to Goa from Santiago via
San Francisco and New Delhi.
During his daily press brief, CM Sawant stated, “Goa has recorded
seventh positive case of Covid-19. The patient was employed aboard
a ship.”
Health Minister Vishwajit Rane informed that the patient is a man
from St Estevam island in Tiswadi. The patient had returned from a
foreign country. He has been shifted to Covid-19 Hospital in Margao
for medical attention.
Rane further disclosed that out of the 25 samples sent for testing to
the virology laboratory at Goa Medical College and Hospital,
Bambolim, only one patient has tested positive. With this, the total
active cases in the state are now seven, said the Health Minister.
Sources from the Health Department revealed that the condition of
all seven Covid-19 positive patients is stable.
Meanwhile, Directorate of Health Services on Saturday issued a
public appeal asking people to self-report and home quarantine
themselves if their travel history coincided with that of Goa’s Covid
patient 6 and 7. The appeal has cast a dark shadow of doubt over the
alleged screening procedure which was put in place for inbound
domestic flights since March 19.
According to the first public appeal issued by DHS, patient 6, the
man from Mandrem who had self-quarantined at a Porvorim-based
hotel, travelled Kempton Park to Johannesburg to Kenya before
arriving at Mumbai and then taking a flight to Goa. From Mumbai, he
travelled to Goa via Air India flight AI 661 and reached Goa on
March 19.
The second public appeal is about patient 7, the 32 year-old man
from St Estevam, who travelled from Santiago to San Francisco and
then to New Delhi before taking a flight to Goa. From New Delhi, he
travelled via Air India flight AI 883 and reached Goa on March 22.
In this regard, DHS has requested anyone who has travelled on these
flights on these dates to home quarantine themselves and self-
isolate and to report immediately to the DHS on 104 or on 0832-
2421810/2225538. These persons can also report to the nearest
government health facility.
Interestingly, it may be recalled that Health Minister Vishwajit Rane
conducted a thorough inspection of Goa International Airport in the
wee hours on March 19 along with all top concerned officials. “It was
gratifying to see the airport authorities adhering to all protocols and
measures suggested by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,”
Rane had tweeted adding that strict measures were in force. The
Health Department has yet to come clean on the lapses in the
protocol as a result of which the authorities are not in possession of
contact details of the passengers who landed at Goa Airport even
after the Health Minister’s reassuring inspection.
