Goa's COVID-19 surge marks a 6.6% positivity rate; third-highest in the country

For over one week, the fresh tallies of coronavirus cases in Goa have surged over the 100-mark, pushing it over the edge to be counted as a 'red zone'. Any state with a COVID positivity rate over 5%, confirmed cases per 100 tests, within a duration of 14 days is considered to be in a red zone. According to reports, from March 14 to March 27, Goa's coronavirus positivity rate surged to be the third-highest in the country, at 6.6%, adding as many as 1,419 patients to its active load.

COVID-19 scare intensifies in Goa amid high tourist influx

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Following the high positivity rates of Maharashtra (21.4%) and Punjab (7%), Goa has clocked in the third-highest case positivity rate in the country. As per reports, Goa has recorded a rapid 2.1% surge in this ratio in just two weeks time. From March 1 to March 14, Goa's case positivity rate was noted to be around 4.5%.

The Director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences has mapped this alarming surge to the increased tourist influx in Goa. He has labelled this travel as non-essential and stated that this huge spike could have been avoided, had the travel restrictions and protocols were continued here.

According to the Centre, all states in the COVID-19 'red zone' have to ensure the imposition of various strict measures to curb the rapid rise of infection. It has to be noted that where Maharashtra is contemplating enforcing a lockdown and other states are insisting on a Covid-19 negative report on arrival, the state of Goa has scrapped any such restrictive protocol.

While the Health Minister recently said that the state is boosting its testing and contact screening capacity, the Union norms indicate that a high positivity rate is suggestive of the fact, that the state is not taking enough measures. Further, in a health bulletin of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare issued on Monday, the state has reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases per million, which exceeds substantially over the national average. Goa is at 36,302 while the national average is 8,724.