In yet another grim milestone, Goa crossed the 500-mark of the total deaths reported in the state to date due to the coronavirus infection. With eight deaths reported yesterday (Sunday), the state has crossed the 500-mark, taking the total death tally to 507.
Of the eight deaths reported yesterday, seven of them occurred at the Goa Medical College, while one was reported from Asilo Hospital in Mapusa.
The alarming scenario that continues to dominate the state’s fatalities is the late arrival of patients, as many, unaware that they are positive, report late to the hospital, rendering doctors and medical staff helpless at the last minute.
One death reported yesterday occurred within just ten minutes of the patient’s admission. The death at Asilo occurred within an hour of the patient’s arrival.
Sadly, the state’s death per million, as reported at 323, is the highest in the country. The tiny state of Goa’s death per million being the highest is almost four the national figure which stands at around 80. However, some have maintained this high figure due to the small population of just over 15-lakhs in the state.
With rising covid-19 cases, another trend noticed however is reduced testing being done across the state. Initially, with the outbreak in June, the state had ramped up its testing facilities and had even crossed 5000 tests a day. However, currently, Goa is doing mere 1500-1700 tests a day.
Despite the low number of tests, the positivity rate, at almost 30%, continues to be high, with nearly an average of 500 cases being reported every day.
This also goes in complete contrast to the world’s most important rule for covid-19, which is, test, trace, isolate, and treat. With testing itself on the lower side, the state’s new cases figures continue to rise sharply.
Several doctors have in the past maintained that the only way to keep the pandemic in control is to aggressively test, something that doesn’t appear statistically to be happening in Goa.
Also, now, Goa depends heavily on the antigen tests being conducted, while the most perfect RT-PCR tests are done very rarely.
The antigen tests, according to doctors, have a high chance of a false negative, which may in turn not detect covid-19 among patients resulting in the infection being spread to others.
