Goa may soon see 1,000 cases a day: Goa minister

PANAJI: Health minister Vishwajit Rane said on Friday that Goa may soon see 1,000 Covid-19 cases a day because “community transmission” is happening in the state.
The pace of infection in the state has intensified this month, and Rane had earlier said that Goa may have over 25,000 cases by the end of September.
“We are reporting 500-600 cases a day. We may go up to 1,000 cases a day,” Rane said, adding that containing mortality is a big challenge.
He said the task has been rendered difficult as many patients are reporting late for treatment, and some die within hours of admission to the hospital. However, he said Covid-19 casualties are slowly reducing.
As of Friday, 276 people in the state have died of Covid-19, and some of these fatalities were “brought dead” to hospital.
Goa has reported over 22,000 Covid-19 cases, and 18,065 of them have recovered. Since September 1, over 5,000 new cases have been detected.
Rane reiterated on Friday that Covid-19 patients with symptoms must immediately seek medical help for better treatment and cure. The health minister also refuted claims by some that the government was hiding data on Covid-19 patients.
He said that while the Covid-19 vaccine is the ultimate hope to end the pandemic, he doesn’t see it being launched by the end of the year. Referring to reports that some pharma companies have stopped trials, he said, “The vaccine may be launched in the first quarter of next year.”
Meanwhile, to mitigate the shortage of nurses in Covid care facilities, Rane said nurses currently attached to Goa dental college and hospital will also be absorbed for Covid duties.
Considering the poor response for job advertisements — whether technicians or multi-task workers — he said 70 jobs would be outsourced.
Rane said that the state government is incurring the highest expenditure per Covid patients, and that details of these expenses would be shared next week.