Goa: Parts of two major slums now containment zones

PANAJI: The state’s active Covid-19 count rose to 724 on Monday with the detection of 53 new cases. Sakhali in northwest Goa emerged as a new hotspot of the infection, with the day seeing 16 new infections. The town, which is represented by chief minister Pramod Sawant, now has 24 active cases.
The town’s count has steadily been rising over the past week. Monday’s cases were reported from Desai nagar, Bhandar waddo, housing board and Gaonthan. A health official said that over 160 persons in the town have been tested for Covid-19, and that testing will continue on Tuesday. A policeman, resident of the town, has also tested positive.
Meanwhile, locals of Karapur village, around 1 km from the town, have opted to observe a voluntary lockdown from Monday to Saturday. Karapur-Sarvan sarpanch Sushma Sawant said that the decision was taken by locals and shopkeepers. While the panchayat didn’t have any say in the decision, it supported residents who conducted a Covid-19 awareness drive in the village.
Margao, which has also witnessed a rise in cases, saw three more persons test positive on Monday. Since some cases over the past few days are from the densely-populated Moti Dongor, there were calls that the location be declared a containment zone.
But even as cases piled up, there was some relief as hotspot areas like Baina, Curtorim, Zuarinagar and Morlem saw no new cases on Monday. Also, the day saw 46 patients cured and discharged, taking the total number of recovered cases to 524. In Sada and New Vaddem, only one and two cases respectively were reported. Canacona and Verna too reported a case each.