Goa barman goes missing after testing COVID-19 positive
The main market in Panaji, operated by the municipal corporation, will be shut down for four days after a person operating a bar in the premises tested positive for COVID-19 but couldnt be traced, Mayor Uday Madkaikar said on Thursday. Initial probe has revealed that the barman had arrived in Goa by train from Delhi and is officially registered as a missing person as per Delhi police records.
"We have taken the decision to shut down the market for four days as a precautionary measure," Madkaikar told a press conference here.
"A person running a bar has tested positive and he has been missing soon after he was informed about it by the authorities," he added.
A state administration team, which was designated to shift the barman to a Covid-19 treatment facility, has not been able to locate him, even as police have been directed to locate him.
Speaking to reporters, Goa Health Secretary Nila Mohanan said that the person is a resident of Delhi and the police and the state administration are trying to track him down.
"We don't know who this person is. We know that he is registered as a missing person as per Delhi Police records," Mohanan said, adding that in his self-declaration form, which was submitted to the state authorities, the missing person had given a "vague address", which has made tracking him down difficult.
Goa currently has 350 active Covid-19 cases. While a bulk of these active cases were reported in the containment area of Mangor hill in South Goa, over the last two days, several new cases are being reported from more scattered geography including far flung villages of the Sattari sub-district and now Panaji and the slum cluster of Chimbel, near the state capital.
