Mandatory for hotels in Goa to maintain isolation rooms: Minister

Panaji, Nov 18 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Goa government is working on a new set of SOPs, which will make it mandatory for all hotels in the state to maintain isolation rooms for tourists and guests who test positive for Covid-19, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said on Wednesday.

Rane also said that the state Health Ministry was in the process of upping the daily coronavirus testing quantum to an average of 2,000 tests every day.

"We are also bringing new SOPs, so that every hotel will now have to have some isolation rooms. They need to maintain such rooms. Suppose they have some guests, who turns positive, it is their responsibility to isolate them," Rane said, adding that guidelines to the effect would be issued by the Goa government soon.

Rane also said that tourists should visit Goa and added that as long as a proper medical system is in place in the state, there was no reason to worry about a spike in the number of Covid-19 cases.

The Health Minister also said that his ministry was working towards upping the daily number of Covid-19 tests to 2,000 every day.

"We are working on that. Our testing has been a bit up and down, but we want to reach that 2,000 figure," Rane said.

Over the last few days, Goa has witnessed a numeric dip in the number of Covid-19 positive cases reported every day, with the tally touching two digits for the first time on November 14. On November 16 and 17, however, Goa reported 125 and 154 positive cases respectively.

On an average, between 1,500-1,700 tests are conducted every day, with the number dipping considerably during weekends.

In all 46,182 confirmed cases have been reported in Goa, where the Covid death tally stands at 667.

Source: IANS