Goa govt mulling complete lockdown, to take call soon

Panaji, May 07: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday hinted at a lockdown in the state to curb the rising COVID-19 cases and said a final decision on the matter would be taken in the next 2 to 3 days.

Sawant attended a meeting of MLAs through video conferencing to take stock of the COVID-19 situation in the state.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, the Chief Minister said the state government was thinking positively about the lockdown and a decision will be taken in the next 2to 3 days.

We will talk to all stakeholders before taking the decision, he said.

Goa is currently under stringent COVID-19-related curbs, which include closure of non-essential shops. The state was under lockdown for four days last week.

Sawant said all BJP MLAs have been asked to set up a 'war room' in their constituencies to coordinate efforts to deal with the pandemic.

'The MLAs will also have to start round-the-clock call centres which will be in touch with COVID-19 patients,' the CM said.

He said local panchayats have been asked to ensure that people advised home isolation do not venture out.

Goa on Thursday reported its highest daily tally so far with 3,869 COVID-19 cases that took the infection count to 1,08,267, an official from the health department said.

The toll mounted to 1,501 after 58 patients died of the infection during the day, the official said.