WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 2024
Team Herald
PANJIM: The State government has decided to take strict action against rumour mongers, those violating guidelines of social distancing and not wearing of masks by even going to the extent of jailing them, Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant said.
On Monday the State saw a rise in cases with 53 positive reports while 46 recovered. So far the State has 1,251 confirmed cases, 724 active cases, 524 recoveries and three deaths.
Pramod Sawant’s constituency has seen a rise with 24 cases so far, besides Margao has seen 17 cases.
Speaking to the media in the city, Sawant said a lockdown is not the solution to preventing COVID-19. “Social distancing, wearing masks, using sanitisers are precautions. Lockdown is not a solution,” the chief minister said.
He said the State has been trying to educate people, but despite this there are some people who are creating unnecessary panic and violating guidelines. “I have told police to implement the guidelines strictly and if need be increase the fines and if need be put the violators in lockups,” he said.
Further saying that rumour mongers will be strictly dealt with, CM said that former Health Minister Suresh Amonkar is stable. “I have been monitoring his condition, he is stable. The only issue is he had a kidney failure and was on dialysis earlier. Also, he is highly diabetic and hence was critical. He is stable now,” he said.
Meanwhile, despite sharp increase in cases of COVID in Sanquelim, Sawant said there is no decision on declaring it a containment zone. “Wherever there is increase in cases, we have beefed up testing. No decision has been taken on containment zone yet,” he said.
