Villages in Goa take to self-imposed Covid lockdowns

PANAJI: As the number of coronavirus cases rise in Goa, villagers in the state have been voluntarily locking themselves up at home and ensuring a complete shutdown of normal activity to ride out the coronavirus pandemic.

It began on June 6, when a health worker from Guleli in Sattari, a village located deep in the Western Ghats that line Goa’s eastern fringe with Karnataka, tested positive for the virus. People of the village quickly shut down the few shops in the village and quarantined themselves within their homes. The worker was posted on duty in the port town of Vasco da Gama which has since become a hotspot for the virus.

Faster than the disease, the practice soon spread to neighbouring villages like Morlem after cases were found there too and culminated in Keri, a village that lies along the border with Karnataka, self-declaring a fourday shutdown to “break the chain” of the virus. On Tuesday, another village Usgao in the same taluka declared a two-day shutdown. “Yesterday, the Keri youth and villagers got together and decided that since the coronavirus has reached close to home. The youth have come forward and called the each panchayat member and explained the plan. This is for our own good and is our own decision,” Laxman Gauns, a panchayat member from the Keri village, said.

Cases emerge in rural Goa after health workers — mainly those associated with the Vasco Urban Health Centre began testing positive. To date, 15 health workers have tested positive and five family members related to the health workers also tested positive. Seven hail from the Morlem village neighbouring Keri and one from Guleli.

“There is a lot of fear that has spread and people are scared and they are scaring others too. It is just like any other respiratory disease and if we can take precautions, there will be nothing to worry. Also, as per our numbers, only 5% of patients show symptoms the rest 95% are asymptomatic. We also have a zero mortality rate and a 100% cure rate,” Dr José de Sa, director of health services, said.

“There are other communicable diseases in the community, we don’t have to fear. But have to take all precautions and for high risk persons those who are above 65, children less than five and those who have comorbid condition and pregnant women, have to be extra careful. Wear a mask hand washing and routinely follow all precautions,” he said.

Propagating the fear were legislators who insisted that the Vasco town in Goa was a fit case for a complete lockdown. While the government has refused to impose a lockdown, traders and sellers decided to shut shop.

On Tuesday, Goa reported 29 new cases, taking the total to 359.