Team Herald
PANJIM: Pursuant to an application filed by the State government, the High Court of Bombay at Goa on Monday granted ad-interim relief wherein fully vaccinated residents of Goa and people working in Goa are now permitted to enter the State without obtaining a COVID-19 negative certificate.
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The HC granted this ad-interim relief until August 5, the date on which the next hearing in the matter has been scheduled.
It is still mandatory for tourists entering Goa to have a Covid negative certificate.
The HC was hearing the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the South Goa Advocates’ Association (SGAA) seeking various prayers connected with COVID-19 management in Goa.
The HC specified that fully vaccinated meant that it should be two or more weeks since the beneficiary received the final dose of the recommended schedule of vaccine and such person should be asymptomatic.
There are four categories of fully vaccinated people who are now allowed to enter the State without the Covid negative certificate.
First is the workforce, as in persons who need to enter the State of Goa for purposes of work in industries, labour force, construction, etc. The second are those people who need to enter the State for business related purposes.
It may be recalled that there had been a demand from such categories recently for relaxation in the prevailing rules.
There were similar demands from residents of Goa who needed to enter the State or travel to and fro for various persons.
The third category of fully vaccinated persons who can now enter the State are residents of Goa who have been stranded outside Goa due to the prevailing pandemic or other such related issues. The final and fourth category is for residents of Goa who are required to travel for work, medical reasons, outside the State of Goa and return back after a few days.
However, as mentioned earlier, the rules for tourists entering the State remain the same until August 5, wherein they will need a Covid negative RT-PCR test report that’s less than 72-hours-old at the time of entry.
This matter will now be taken up on August 5, where the State government has been asked to clarify if they are seeking entry of fully vaccinated tourists in the State without a Covid negative certificate. The State government will file their reply on this.
Concerns were raised about media reports of tourists flocking to tourist destinations in other parts of the country where Covid safety protocols had been reportedly blatantly violated. The Central government will also be filing its affidavit offering clarity on the government’s position in this regard.
