Kerala was the one State that was showing the country how best the novel coronavirus can be tackled. Its successes in the battle with the virus have shown that the spread can be curtailed, but the new cases blot those achievements. The first two patients tested positive on the very second day of their arrival in Kerala from the UAE, and three others tested positive some 24 hours later. The number of repatriated Indians testing positive in Kerala is five, but this place at risk all the passengers who arrived on that flight, and even airport staff.
Goa at the current time has over 3,000 persons across the world who have registered with the NRI Commission to return to the State. Under pressure from Goans abroad, the government and the NRI Commission are making efforts to bring them back, even seeking to include Dabolim as one of the airports for landing of the repatriation flights. The plight of the Indians suffering abroad is troubling as there are cases of many having lost their jobs and so having no earnings, but the fear of the risk they bring on arrival is now – after the Kerala experience – very real. It is a risk that Goa will have to manage very carefully, if it intends to bring back the Goans from abroad.
The State is now facing a tough challenge. With the Centre having identified Margao as one of the destination stations for a weekly passenger train that will bring travellers to the State, can Goa ignore the claims of its own people who want to return? It doesn’t end there, as Goa, when it does open its borders and airports to the Indians being repatriated from abroad, will have to boost its quarantine and monitoring facilities several times over. The first repatriation exercise for the State was when the seafarers from the Marella Discovery returned last month. Their 14-day quarantine is coming to an end, and they will return to their homes. But that was a small number compared to the hundreds that will return from abroad.
The State, being in the Green Zone has opened up quite a bit in the last one week since the nationwide lockdown was imposed, as several restrictions have been lifted. The lockdown – the third consecutive since March 25 – ends on may 17, but it is expected that it will be extended, with areas in the Green Zone getting more relaxations. There is movement on the streets and markets, which in Goa is not to be feared as it still remains green. But, take the case of Tamil Nadu, which has a large numebr of COVID-19 positive cases, was on Monday struggling with the realisation that the markets were the turning out to be the largest spreaders of the novel coronavirus.
At this moment Goa can go about a quotidian that is almost normal. Educational institutions, religious places, hotels, restaurants, theatres, cinemas are closed but other economic activity is taking place. It has to ensure that when the repatriation happens, the same standard of testing and monitoring continues. It has to ensure that even if there is a positive case, then the restricted normalcy that prevails now can and will not be disturbed. This can happen only when there is a proper standard operating procedure for the repatriation of the strictest nature and which is minutely followed by the State. Goa cannot ignore its people stranded outside, but at the same time it cannot put at risk those living in the State.
