Goa: Positivity rate drops to 22%, death toll stays high

Panaji: The state on Friday recorded a significant dip in its positivity with 22%. Goa recorded 1,055 fresh cases and 32 deaths, and continues to have over 15,000 active cases.
The day also saw 1,396 recoveries, while the recovery rate rose to 88%. The mortality count, too, rose to 2571. Hospitals continue to see patients coming in critical condition, either owing to delays in getting tested or ignoring their symptoms and staying at home even after testing positive.
Health minister Vishwajit Rane appealed to the people to get tested if they notice any symptoms, or if someone in their family has tested positive.
“Lately, a lot of people are coming at a very late stage to get the required medical care. My first-hand experience was yesterday (Thursday), when a patient whose SpO2 fell to 80 had to immediately be shifted to GMC,” Rane said in a post on social media.
On Friday, a 69-year-old male from Navelim was brought dead to hospital, and six patients died within a few of hospitalisation. A 35-year-old man from Ponda, who was youngest among the casualties of the day, had not undergone a Covid-19 test till he was brought in a critical condition to GMC on Thursday.
A fourth of the 32 deaths were under 50, including a 38-year-old woman from Paroda who was hospitalised two days prior till she breathed her last.
Even the others weren’t in hospital for long, indicating that there was a delay in seeking admission. Of the total deaths reported on Friday, 18 were at GMC, ten at the South Goa district hospital (SGDH), and one each at four private hospitals.