Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said that a lockdown in the state was crucial to save lives as the state reported its highest single-day Covid toll of 38 on Monday.
“In my interaction with experts, I have been told that we might lose 200-300 more lives per day in the next 10 days, the situation is really grim. We are doing our best to save lives. I am confident that Hon’ble CM will take our request into consideration on priority,” Rane wrote on Twitter.
Imposing a lockdown is extremely crucial at this point if we wish to break the chain. I’ll be conducting a meeting with the Chief Secretary & with his guidance, we will come up with an appropriate solution that will be in the best interest of the people of Goa.
— VishwajitRane (@visrane) April 26, 2021
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, however, said that a decision on imposing a lockdown had not been taken yet. He, however, added that stricter curbs on gatherings may be considered.
Goa has imposed a night curfew till April 30 and imposed Section 144 that prohibits gathering of more than five people. The state has also limited the number of people at weddings and funerals to 50 and 20 respectively.
On Monday, Goa reported 2,321 new cases. Of these, 15,260 are active. Of the 6,772 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, 2,321 were found positive. The state’s recovery rate also fell under 80 per cent for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
Of the 38 deaths reported on Monday, the youngest among the deceased was a 31-year-old male with no co-morbidities.
Rane said that he will be holding an emergency meeting with the Chief Minister in view of the spike in cases. “I am confident that Hon’ble CM will support us on this and we are able to save precious lives,” he wrote on Twitter.
Rane said that a lockdown on the lines of that in Maharashtra and Karnataka was the need of the hour. “As much as economic activities are important, it is also important to save lives with stricter measures. Perhaps a lockdown may break the chain. We need strict measures and SOPs along with a lockdown for 30 days,” he added.
