PANJIM: Even as the COVID-19 situation registered a significant improvement in the past weeks, the Goa government, in a bid to further curb the spread of the virus, has decided to extend the State-wide curfew till 7 am on July 5.
In a tweet on Saturday, Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant said that the State government has decided to extend the ongoing ‘corona curfew’, which was supposed to be lifted on June 28 morning, by another week.
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“The Government of Goa has decided to extend the State level curfew till 7 am, July 05,” Sawant tweeted.
The earlier restrictions, including timings for working hours of essential shops, will remain from 7 am to 3 pm. The government, last week, while extending the curfew, had allowed the opening of shopping malls and fish markets.
The pandemic-induced curfew was initially imposed in Goa on May 9 and was to be lifted on May 24 but the State government extended it till May 31, given the surge in fresh coronavirus positive cases. The curfew was thereafter extended till June 7 and later till June 14.
The State’s COVID situation has shown a marked improvement with active cases dropping to around 2600 as on Saturday.
Also, the positivity rate, which was hovering between 46 and 50 per cent at the start of the curfew, has dropped and is now between 6 and 7 per cent.
With the detection of the delta plus variant in neighbouring Sindhudurg district, the government has recommenced antigen testing facility at the border check posts for those entering the State without negative certificate.
