Goa to keep flight operations at minimum level: CM

Goa will reopen its airport on Monday but has decided to keep the flight operations at the minimum level, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Sunday.

He said 13 flights are scheduled to land on the first day of the partial resumption of the operations amidst the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

"About 4,000 people, including 1,000 air travellers, are expected to come to the state on Monday itself," said Sawant. Meanwhile, as per the amended guidelines issued by the state government, only those people, including air travellers, carrying the COVID-19 negative certificate from authorised laboratories would be allowed to enter Goa without testing.

"Those travellers who are carrying COVID-19 negative certificate from ICMR-approved labs would be exempted from checking at the state border.

"Others will have to get themselves tested for COVID-19 by paying Rs 2,000. Those who don't want to be tested will have to stay in home quarantine for the next 14 days," the CM told reporters.

He said this Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) will be applicable to all those people who are coming to Goa by flights, roads, water or trains. He also said that operations of flights and trains have been kept at the minimum level in the state.

Claiming that Goa tops the list of states that have managed COVID-19 successfully, Sawant said that all the 47 patients who have tested positive and admitted in ESI hospital will recover in the next eight days.

The chief minister also said that the state is well equipped to handle fresh cases if any. "Goa is the only state in the country which has tested all the people who entered the borders for COVID-19 infection," the CM said.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Goa went up by 11 to 66 earlier in the day.

Picture credit: aaigoaairport