E-Paper
14-yr-old is Goa’s youngest Covid-19 victim; positive cases rise to 4,686
Goa has also seen the positivity rate increase over the last few weeks which now stands a little above 4% but is expected to increase further with the testing capacity failing to keep pace with the rising demand for tests.
Goa recorded six deaths due to Covid-19 in 24 hours including that of a 14-year-old girl who contracted the coronavirus disease while battling an existing lung infection, taking the toll in the state to 34 on Saturday. Expressing anguish over the rising number of fatalities, the opposition parties blamed the Pramod Sawant government for failure to rein in the virus outbreak.
The 14-year-old is the youngest person in the state till date to succumb to Covid-19, after the 29-year-old who died five days ago.
The deaths reported on Saturday also included two patients in their fifties, a 65-year-old and two people in their eighties, according to the official bulletin released by the state government.
With 146 new cases reported on Saturday, Goa has recorded 4,686 cases of the novel coronavirus so far of which 3,047 have been declared as cured.
“With death toll rising & a 14 year old losing life, Will @BJP4Goa @GovtofGoa @goacm still go ahead suspending all rules & pass budget & conduct business without discussion during 1 day Assembly Session? Is #CovidPandemic & peoples suffering last priority for Government?”, leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat tweeted, referring to the one -day monsoon session of the Goa Legislative Assembly that has been scheduled for Monday.
Another opposition leader, Vijai Sardesai of the Goa Forward Party, too, hit out at the state government for the death toll. “It’s 6 deaths as of the moment, which includes a 14 year old & even 2 people of around 50 years of age! The comorbidity excuse also is not tenable! And the Govt looks all at sea!” he tweeted.
Goa has also seen the positivity rate increase over the last few weeks which now stands a little above 4% but is expected to increase further with the testing capacity failing to keep pace with the rising demand for tests. The number of positive cases has remained steady over the last week or so, hovering a little below 200 positive cases per day, but nearly 7,000 swabs are pending for testing as labs are overwhelmed.
However, an official said that more samples are being taken for surveillance purposes and the authorities are closely watching the (Covid-19) figures.
“We are taking all measures that we are seeing that our labs are operating 24x7. Everybody is alert and aware and we are closely watching the figures,” health secretary Nila Mohanan said.
“With the number of cases on the rise and new containment zones coming into place, we are taking more samples for surveillance purposes and then we also have Aarogya Setu data which is now routinely being used… people have started getting SMS and phone calls from the past one week onwards that recommends that they come forward for testing. So we are encouraging those people to come forward and give their samples,” Mohanan added when asked to explain the increased pendency in testing and the positivity rate.
Despite being a small state, Goa’s numbers are more than double that of Himachal Pradesh and comparable to that of Uttarakhand and Chattisgarsh, states much larger but arguably more rural.
