Covid-19: Bagalkot man in Goa's Vasco tests positive, escapes with family in truck

VASCO: A man from Bagalkot residing at Khariawaddo, Vasco, got a message on Tuesday afternoon that he tested positive for the novel coronavirus. He promptly gathered his belongings in his truck, collected his family too, and drove off. Till late Tuesday night, authorities were none the wiser where the Covid-positive man had reached.
As cases in Vasco move from being concentrated at Mangor Hill to various parts of the town, fear and panic continue to grip its residents.The Bagalkot man wasn’t Tuesday’s only case from Khariawaddo — a nurse working at the urban health centre also tested positive, the local councillor said.
On Tuesday, an electricity department linesman, a resident of Bogda, Sada, tested positive for Covid-19. A department official said that other staffers have now also been asked to go for testing. Since electricity is an essential service, there are fears that more personnel testing positive might affect power in the port town.
“We are so scared, we do not know how far the virus has been spread,” said Karim Mulla, an event manager from Chicalim. “Seeing the rising number of cases outside the containment zone gives us sleepless nights, as we have family at New Vaddem, which seems like it’s becoming the next hotspot.”
Another positive case, a staffer of Mormugao Municipal Council, is a resident of Cansaulim. “We took 30 other staffers who came in contact with her to the sub-district hospital and got them tested,” said chairperson Nandadeep Raut. “Another 30 will be tested on Wednesday, and these include councillors.” The MMC building was shut on Tuesday and the premises sanitised.
Meanwhile, New Vaddem, which previously recorded five cases, got six new positives on Tuesday, taking its count up to 11. In Shantinagar, a teenager, who played cricket with his friends, tested positive, as did his father. The area’s councillor, Yatin Kamurlekar, identified 21 persons who came in contact with the teen and referred them for testing.
As the cases increased, Vasco PI Nilesh Rane, deputy collector, Mormugao, Sachin Dessai and others inspected the area and restricted residents’ movement by erecting barricades and deploying police. Since sources said that there’s a threat of local transmission here too, and many are waiting to get tested, residents have been asked to home quarantine. Buses too stayed off the roads at New Vaddem.
A Kadamba conductor affiliated to the Vasco depot living at Mestawaddo too tested positive. In Baina, after one man tested positive, three of his family members also tested positive and were admitted to the Covid hospital on Tuesday.