Goa CM Sawant retracts his statement on community transmission

    Panaji, July 1 (PTI) Days after stating that community
transmission of coronavirus might have set in in Goa, Chief
Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday retracted his statement.
    Sawant said the "virus is not in the air" in Goa and
that health authorities can identify trajectory of infection.
    "I might have said in the past that it's a community
transmission in Goa. But I enquired and was told that it was
not so..the virus is not in the air," the CM said.
    Initially a green zone, the number of cases in Goa
rose steadily since the first week of May. As of now, the
number of cases has crossed the 1,000-mark with four deaths.
    Sawant said the infection passed on from one person to
another.
     "We need to be alert. I have been time and again
asking people to keep a safe distance from each other, and
wear mask. We should not violate these guidelines," the CM
said.
    Responding to a query, the CM sought to allay concerns
over a BJP MLA testing positive for coronavirus on Tuesday.
    The MLA had attended a meeting of BJP legislators
called by the CM last week.
    "Proper social distancing was maintained during the
meeting," he said.
    When asked about the fourth death due to COVID-19,
Sawant said the patient might have contracted the infection at
the isolation ward of the Goa Medical College and Hospital,
where he was admitted.
    The deceased was a 64-year-old man from Taleigao
village near Panaji. He died at the ESI hospital after being
tested positive for the viral infection.
    "Though we sanitise the isolation ward regularly,
there could be a possibility that he may got infection from
there," he said. PTI RPS
NSK NSK

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)