Corona cases rise in India and Goa too

 The state government has issued directions and testing for people from outside the country has been made compulsory. Also casinos, restaurants, and other functions have been told to function at 50% capacity.

Public functions too, will be asked to verify COVID negativity. The state health minister informed that Goa used to test only 2% of the passengers travelling from non high-risk countries. However, the Government of Goa has now taken a decision in public interest to test all international passengers.

The government of Goa has also approved capping of Rapid RT PCR test at the cost of rupees 1500, until further review.

 India has reported 13,154 new Covid cases and 268 deaths in 24 hours. The Omicron tally in the country has now risen to 961, as per government data. The Active Covid caseload too has now jumped to 82,402.

A Maharashtra Covid Task Force member has expressed concern and said the trend suggests that the third wave has started in clusters in Delhi and Mumbai. A doctor and member of the task force said that the rate at which the cases are doubling indicates that it is triggered by Omicron and that results of Omicron tests of past 7 days are awaited to understand the share of Omicron cases.

 Global COVID-19 infections too, hit a record high over the past seven-day period,  as the Omicron variant raced out of control and governments wrestled with how to contain its spread. The French Health Ministry told lawmakers that the country was seeing a "dizzying" rise in cases, with 2.08 lakh reported in the space of 24 hours a national and European record.

Britain reported 183,037 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, a new record and over 50,000 more than the previous-highest figure registered just a day earlier. However, China showed no let-up in its policy of zero tolerance to outbreaks, keeping 13 million people in the city of Xi'an under rigid lockdown for a seventh day as new COVID-19 infections persisted, with 151 cases reported on Tuesday.