Amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in neighbouring state Maharashtra, Goa health minister Vishwajit Rane on Sunday said he would meet Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to deliberate on steps to tackle the cases in Goa if a sudden spike occurs in the state.
While the vaccine rollout is successfully being carried out around the country, sudden surge of Covid cases in Maharashtra in the last few days raised concerns among the public and health workers about a possible second wave.
In view of this, Maharashtra government took measures to reimpose measures like school and college closure, limitations on movement at night and restrictions on events like weddings for the remainder of the month.
In Maharashtra, in the last four weeks, the weekly cases have shown a rising trend and have increased from 18,200 to 21,300 and the areas of concern are the Mumbai Suburban areas where the weekly cases have risen by 19%. In Nagpur, Amravati, Nashik, Akola and Yavatmal, the weekly cases have increased by 33%, 47%, 23%, 55% and 48%, respectively.
Meanwhile Goa Health Minister, Vishwajit Rane told PTI new standard operating procedures could be created for the state, adding that the decision would be taken after his meeting with the CM. He, however, did not elaborate on what the new SOPs may be.
Compared to Maharashtra, the condition of Goa is less dangerous at the moment. While the death toll remained unchanged at 787 and the recovery count rose by 44, the number of people who have been discharged stands at 53,287, leaving the state with only 488 active cases.
The second phase of the vaccine drive in Goa started on 9th February with over 7,000 healthcare workers from the public and private sector have already received the first dose of the vaccine out of 19,000-odd healthcare workers and central government employees who have registered on the website.
