CANACONA: Inspite of the taluka imposing voluntary lockdown since last Monday the cases detected on a daily basis in Canacona has not shown any decrease and are in the region of 70 to 80 on a daily basis since last fortnight.
While an eight day old baby was tested positive for Covid-19, one person succumbed to the virus before he was brought to the Community Health Centre at Chaudi on Friday.
As the Goa Chief Minister declared on Friday that the state will be under curfew starting from Sunday morning hundreds of locals made a beeline to Chaudi the commercial and administrative capital of the taluka since Friday.
The local police after getting complains of violations of Covid-19 SOP from the concerned citizens, directed most of the shops selling essential items to close down post Friday morning and were allowed to open in the evening following social distancing norms.
Many of the whole sale liquor shops which were opened on Friday morning were also told by police to down their shutters by afternoon.
A furious wine store wholesaler asked how their counterparts in Margao are allowed to open their shops, is Goa following different sets of rules for different cities? He fumed.
“When I asked the police constable who told me to close my shop to show the latest circular he bluntly said that he is directed by the Canacona police inspector to do so and first to close the shop and then ask the PI” he informed.
When this correspondent asked the staff at Canacona police station for a circular to that effect, they informed that the PI is gone to the Polem Gate and they don’t have any circular with them.
Meanwhile the authorities and political leaders met on Saturday morning to take stock of the rising number of cases and steps that they should take to arrest the increasing numbers.
The meeting deliberated on the steps to be taken was attended by the local MLA and deputy speaker Isidore Fernandes, deputy collector, mamlatdar, police inspector, fire brigade station in charge, Canacona Municipality chairperson Simon Rebello, all other councillors, shopkeepers association president Diogo Da’ Silva, vice president Anil Bhagat, BJP mandal president Nandeep Bhagat and former CMC chairperson Ajay Bhagat.
All of those present stressed on the need to enforce the curfew restrictions enforced by the government of Goa from Sunday for next 15 days as they said this is the only way to break the chain of Covid-19 cases in the taluka.
At about 10.00am on Saturday there close to hundred people waiting in the hot sun to test themselves at the Covid testing centre, while a pandal is erected beside the testing premises it is too small to accommodate such a large number of persons informed a person who he said he is waiting from 9.00 am.
“Everyone who comes here for testing has Covid like symptoms and it is difficult to stand in queue in the hot sun, the authorities have to shift the testing to a better location” he said.
Meanwhile, with the detection of 45 fresh cases in the municipal area of Canacona, the municipal area continues to be the hotbed of Covid-19 cases since last fortnight informed sources at Community Health Centre.