Goa drops mandatory testing in new SOP for visitors

Panaji, June 8 (IANS) In its new SOP for people visiting Goa, testing for Covid-19 will no longer be mandatory. However, all passengers will now have to pass thermal scanners and only those who are red-flagged during the screening will be tested, the state's Port Minister Michael Lobo told reporters on Monday.

Lobo was speaking to reporters after a meeting of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs at the chief minister's official residence in Panaji.

"A new SOP for entry into Goa has been decided. Earlier, all persons were tested, now they will have to pass through thermal scanners which will be installed at the borders," Lobo said.

"Those who have fever will be stopped and taken for Covid-19 test after the screening. Others will not be tested," Lobo said, adding that the thermal scanners will be put up at all entry points in the state, including land borders, railway stations and the airport.

The announcement follows even as the state is witnessing a Covid-19 spike, with nearly 200 persons testing positive in a week alone, most of them in the Mangor hill area of South Goa's Mormugao sub district, which has been declared a containment zone. According to state health ministry statistics 95 per cent of the state's active Covid-19 cases are asymptomatic.

Lobo also said it was no longer feasible to close borders and continue with the lockdown because the state's economy was suffering and the poor and the middle class had to find work for sustenance.

At the meeting with BJP MLAs' the legislators were briefed on the functioning of thermal scanners and the need for introduction of the new SOP.