SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024
Goa has crossed the 6000 mark in cases, going from a figure of 1387 cases on July 1 to 6193 on August 1, a rise of 4803 cases in the space of a month. A day later, on August 2 Goa registered the biggest single-day spike in number of COVID-19 cases and deaths, when it recorded 337 new cases and five deaths in the space of a day. The spike in deaths and cases on August 2 was a startling revelation of just how widespread the virus has turned in Goa. Against the all-India figure of over 17 lakh cases, this figure of over 6000 may appear paltry, but one has to consider the population of the State to get an idea of just how far the virus has spread in Goa.
When the COVID-19 figures of Goa are viewed per million of population the enormity of the situation becomes increasingly clear. Currently, based on the figures released by the Directorate of Health services up to August 2, Goa’s total cases stand at 4353 per million of population, while the deaths stand at 35 per million of population. If this still appears low, juxtapose these alongside the all-India figures of per milllion which stand at 1317 cases per million of population and 28 deaths per million of population. One finds that Goa’s statistics are far higher than the national figures, which makes this a rather worrisome factor for the State and the people.
Practically, Goa’s COVID numbers started increasing after mid May, when the borders were opened and travellers began arriving. Recall that before that Goa took pride in being a green zone. The numbers rose slowly at first, but the speed now is much faster. Take for instance the daily rise. Goa first reached a three figure per day rise in cases on July 4. It dropped to double figures for three days after that and then rose again to the three-figure mark. On July 27, Goa saw a huge surge and breached the 200 per day mark of confirmed cases, taking 23 days to go from the 100 to the 200 per day rise in cases and then just six days later saw it biggest single-day spike of 337 cases on a single day, which breached the 300 a day mark. Once the backlog of tests is reduced, we should have a better idea of the COVID incidence in the State.
What is helping Goa to a certain extent is that the recovery rate in the State is high, and this has currently kept the active cases at below the 2000 mark, as over 200 are sent back home almost daily after the mandatory quarantine at centres. Also a large number of those infected are asymtomatic or showing mild symptoms which allows them to be quarantined in COVID care centres and then discharged, without being admitted at the COVID hospital.
Goa’s cases are not showing a decline in numbers, and this is another worrying factor. It is apparent that the containment measures have not been yielding the results that were expected from them. The hope now is that the plasma therapy will work on the patients, but more needs to be done to reduce the transmission of the virus. It is only when the numbers of ocnfirmed cases begin to fall, that there will be a flattenning of the curve, and that is when Goa can begin to breathe easy. Goa’s graph is still pointing upwards and that is not a good sign.
