PANJIM: The State government on Saturday extended the State-level curfew till June 7, so as to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
In a tweet, Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant said, “Government of Goa has decided to extend the curfew till 7 am of 7th June 2001. The orders regarding the same shall be issued by respective District Collectors.”
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
Earlier, the government had announced the imposition of a 15-day curfew up to May 23 in the State in a bid to break the chain of COVID-19 infection and the same was further extended by another eight days up to 7 am on May 31.
During these days, grocery shops and other essentials were permitted to remain open from 7 am to 1 pm, while pharmacies and other medical facilities were exempted. Also, restaurant kitchens were allowed to remain open for takeaway food from 7 am to 7 pm during the curfew period.
Before imposing the State-level curfew, the government had announced a three-day lockdown from April 29 to May 2, which was followed by strict restrictions for a period of eight days.
Despite these restrictions, people were seen unnecessarily moving out of their homes and were not obeying restrictions thereby increasing the threat of infection to others even as Sawant had appealed to them to stay home and to strictly follow the COVID-19 protocol as second wave of coronavirus was more dangerous and was affecting youth.
Meanwhile, former Panjim Mayor and corporator Uday Makdaikar on Saturday appealed to the Chief Minister to relax the restrictions imposed during the curfew and to allow shops selling umbrellas, raincoats and plastic sheets to remain open as many shopkeepers are suffering losses and consumers are also inconvenienced considering the ensuing monsoon.
