The timely edit, ‘Party restrictions are an eyewash’, was an absorbing and instructive read. Your observation that the tightening measures announced are simply a ruse to camouflage the government’s sheer inaction in tackling the crisis head-on is simply spot on. By according precedence to the needs of the tourism and hospitality industry, the government has accorded short shrift to the safety of local residents. You have rightly sounded the alarm bells at a time when not only in Goa, but the entire nation is on the cusp of the dreaded ‘Omicron’ surge. The need for having a tighter monitoring mechanism for enforcing necessary covid restrictions, putting in place rigorous airport-type surveillance at the porous state borders and the responsibility of citizens to strictly adhere to covid-appropriate protocols are some of the important takeaways, which hold good for pan-India for combating the expected upsurge on a war-footing. The time is ripe for the respective state administrations and their various wings to marshal the available resources and health infrastructure at their disposal for putting in place collaborative efforts to mitigate the woes of the covid-afflicted. An apathetic approach and springing into action late in the day cannot help in keeping the pandemic demons at bay.
