The government is yet to make any statement on this, but some announcement is expected on the weekend so that the people are prepared in case the curfew is extended. As the matter stands today, the curbs on people’s movement and opening hours of business establishments will continue till May 31. A decision on whether the curfew should continue will depend entirely on whether Goa has managed to bring down the COVID-19 daily cases and deaths.
Yet, almost a month into the lockdown followed by the curfew, Goa’s coronavirus cases and deaths are not showing an appreciable decline. On April 28, the day Goa announced the three-day lockdown daily cases were 3101. The lockdown was not extended, though there were demands for this but restrictions were continued for another week. When the cases showed no signs of dropping the curfew was imposed that is still continuing. The three-day lockdown was announced to break the COVID chain. Three days would never have achieved any result and we now see that even four weeks later, the chain has not been broken and cases are still quite high. On an average around 1500 people are getting infected daily in the State, the number of deaths has just not fallen below 30 and Goa has recorded cases of the black fungus.
The peak of the daily cases was seen on May 7, when new cases touched 4195, they slowly began dropping, but from May 16 to the current date, the new cases have been almost consistent, hovering between 1300 and 1600 a day. Every time they dropped below 1400, there was an expectancy that the next day would see a further appreciable drop but this hasn’t occurred and Goa is still caught in the COVID-19 web of cases and deaths. Admittedly, there has been a drop, but this is also in keeping with the trend across the country where cases are registering a decline.
The point here is that Goa, after four weeks of partial restrictions – lockdown and curfew – is still not showing a very appreciable drop in cases and deaths that can lead to a withdrawal of the restrictions that have been currently imposed. In comparison, neighbouring States and others have managed to bring down their positivity rate and cases after imposing lockdowns. Goa’s test positivity rate, however, has shown a marked improvement, dropping from around 50 per cent to around 30 per cent, but with the State failing to see the numbers plateauing, the possibility of an extension of the restrictions certainly exists. The State still has new cases in four figures – approximately 1500 a day – when during the first wave the highest it had reached was over 700. We are today still at double the number of daily cases of the first wave. Unless the State manages to further reduce these cases, Goa may not be able to lift the curfew.
However, there may be something for Goa to learn from Maharashtra that has banned home isolation of COVID-19 patients in 18 districts that showed a high positivity rate and Kerala has imposed triple restrictions in a district with high positivity rate. As per the daily health bulletin released by the Directorate of Health Services, areas under certain health centres do show a higher number of cases. Stricter restrictions in these may help bring down the numbers quicker than a statewide curfew. Besides, the Centre in its guidelines had suggested that States opt for containment of micro zones that show higher numbers. If that will help control the spread, the State has to consider it and quickly.
