A crowded at Mapusa Market on the eve of Christmas festival, North Goa, Friday, Dec. 24, 2021.
The Goa government on Monday decided to close schools and colleges till January 26 in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases in the coastal state. Besides, the government imposed a night curfew in the state. The curfew orders will be in place from 11 pm to 6 am everyday.
The decisions were taken by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, who chaired the Task Force's meeting on COVID-19 on Monday. Shekhar Salkar, a member of the Task Force, told reporters in Panaji that physical classes for students of classes 11 and 12 will continue as the vaccination programme is currently underway. However, It has been decided to close the physical sessions for classes 8 and 9 in schools till January 26.
The coastal state on Monday reported 631 new COVID-19 cases with the positivity rate jumping by 16 per cent to 26.43 per cent. On Sunday, Goa had recorded a COVID-19 positivity rate at 10.7 per cent and 388 cases. With the new infections, the overall caseload in Goa mounted to 1,82,201 on Monday. Goa has so far reported five cases of the Omicron variant, including four on Monday.
The COVID-19 death toll remained unchanged at 3,523 in Goa as no fresh fatality was reported on Monday. The number of recoveries rose to 1,76,438 after 62 people were discharged during the day, leaving Goa with 2,240 active cases.
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