New Delhi: Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Monday informed that as many as 66 of the over 2,000 people onboard the Cordelia cruise ship have tested positive for Coronavirus.
The cruise liner, where NCB busted a high-profile rave party in October last year, had come to the coastal state from Mumbai carrying hordes of New Year revellers, news agency PTI reported.
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“Out of 2000 samples tested from Cordelia cruise ship, 66 passengers tested positive for COVID-19 Respective collectors & MPT staff have been informed of the same,” Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane wrote on Twitter.
The further stated that the authorities will decide whether to allow disembarking of passengers from the ship.
According to PTI, a medical team in PPE kits came onboard the Cordelia cruise ship to conduct RT-PCR tests of the passengers and crew members.
Officials had instructed that no one disembark from the ship before the result of the RT-PCR test was declared.
The tests were conducted after a Cordelia Cruise crew member tested positive for COVID-19. The crew member was isolated in the ship itself and the RT-PCR tests of 1471 passengers and 595 crew members were done, news agency ANI reported.
Speaking to ANI earlier in the day, Ship agent JM Baxi, Govind Pernulkar said: “We got the information around 9 am from the ship doctor that a crew member has been tested positive. As soon as we got the information, we informed the government authorities and stopped the ship outside.”
The ship is currently anchored near the Mormugao Port cruise terminal, Vasco.
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COVID Curbs In Goa
Following the New Year celebrations, Goa’s COVID-19 positivity rate on Sunday stood at 10.7 per cent.
In view of the COVID situation, Goa government on Monday decided to close schools and colleges till January 26.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, who chaired the Task Force’s meeting on COVID-19, announced that the Goa government would also impose night curfew in the coastal state.
It has been decided to close the physical sessions for classes 8 and 9 in schools from tomorrow till January 26, Shekhar Salkar, a member of the Task Force, told reporters in Panaji, as reported by PTI.
He further informed that students of classes 11 and 12 would have to attend the school to take the vaccine against COVID-19. Once they are vaccinated, they need not attend the classes till January 26.
The colleges in the coastal state would also be shut till January 26.
As per the official, the order for imposing night curfew between 11 pm and 6 am every day will be issued by the state administration either on Monday or Tuesday.
Shekhar mentioned that the weekly COVID-19 positivity in the state is around five per cent due to which the restrictions have been imposed.
The state government would also enforce restrictions on indoor activities, he said.
Though the number of COVID-19 cases in the state was high, the deaths and hospitalisation rate were low, he added.
(With Agency Inputs)
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