Covid peak near, be cautious during festivities: GovtOR Covid peak is near, warns govt Take Care During Festivities: State Epidemiologist

Panaji: The pandemic is near its peak in Goa and people will have to be careful during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival which kicks starts on Friday, state epidemiologist Dr Utkarsh Betodkar said on Thursday.
“People must avoid crowds and follow social distancing norms, otherwise trouble is not far,” Betodkar said.
Since August 1, the state’s daily average of Covid-19 cases has been 356, and on two days — August 9 and 13 — it breached the 500 mark. August 13 saw Goa’s biggest single-day spike.
Betodkar said the infection has dipped in Mangor Hill and Zuarinagar in Vasco as well as in other places such as Morlem in Sattari that witnessed a major spike in June and July and was declared a containment zone. Even cases in Verna have gone down, he said.
The same holds true for Shirin in Chimbel that reported a sizeable number of cases. On Thursday, Chimbel’s tally stood at 222.
Cases that get reported from Vasco now are spread all over with a daily average of 20 to 25, the state epidemiologist said.
As of Thursday, the Vasco urban health centre had 354 active cases.
Betodkar said that though Margao, Mapusa, Porvorim and Ponda saw a spike post mid-July, no outbreak was reported from any of these areas like that seen in Mangor Hill and Zuarinagar.
Health officers attached to the Ponda, Margao, Panaji, Mapusa and Colvale health centres have been saying that cases are being found all over in their respective jurisdictions.
Most of these places witnessed a spike after the infection was detected in industrial workers. Majority of the cases under the Colvale primary health centre were detected in Tivim. Quite a few people working in the pharma unit at Colvale were also found positive.
As of Thursday, the Colvale primary health centre had an active tally of 105.
In Ponda too, many industrial workers — both from Verna and other manufacturing units residing in and around Ponda — tested positive. Ponda’s tally has reached 223.