New coronavirus SOPs in Goa by Saturday, says Chief Minister Pramod Sawant

Panaji, Mar 26: Goa will draft new standard operating procedures (SOPs) by Saturday to tackle the COVID-19 situation in the state, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said in the Assembly on Friday.

He was responding to a calling attention motion by Independent MLA Rohan Khaunte on the rise in number of cases over the past few days. Khaunte said 32 staff of an offshore casino had been detected with the infection, and while they were shifted to a building, the casino was allowed to continue operations.

Health minister Vishwajit Rane said the staff would be moved out of the building and it will be denotified as a micro containment zone, while periodic testing of staff at the casino will be made mandatory.

The minister also ruled out making COVID-19 negative certificates mandatory for those flying into the state from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala etc as "there is no guarantee that the certificate which they bring along is genuine".

Meanwhile, the Kangra district administration in Himachal Pradesh on Friday ordered for prohibiting mass gatherings in view of the rising COVID-19 cases and directed for seven days of quarantine for migrant labourers entering the district, officials said.

In the orders issued by Kangra Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Kumar Prajapati, it states that the gatherings for Holi festival are banned too. Under Section 34 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the DC has imposed additional safety protocols of COVID-19 for immediate prevention of threat to human life, health and safety.

All social/entertainment/cultural/religious/political and other congregations shall be completely prohibited in the district except marriages, funerals and election process within the jurisdiction of the municipal corporations of Dharamshala and Palampur, subject to strict compliance with the conditions of the gathering.