Goa: In a major testing drive at Moti Dongor zone, 986 swabs taken

MARGAO: A team of health officials on Wednesday descended on the containment zone at Moti Dongor, Margao, and tested a major part of the area for Covid-19. In the day-long exercise, throat swab samples of 986 residents were drawn.
Sources in the health department said that all 350 samples drawn from the area on Tuesday returned negative. “We have extensively covered the area.Samples of the rest of the residents will be drawn tomorrow,” a district administration official said.
The district administration has begun an awareness campaign in the area to explain to people the objective behind declaring the area a containment zone, and to urge them to observe personal hygiene and social distancing norms. Volunteers distributed pamphlets containing such information to residents on Wednesday.
The civil supplies department has also ensured availability of sufficient stock of essential commodities at fair price shops and grocery outlets in the area.
Parts of Moti Dongor were declared as containment zone by the South Goa collector after 17 persons from the area tested positive for Covid-19. The zone covers part of ward 18 extending from the sulabh shouchalaya near the masjid to BSNL quarters, and part of ward 23 extending from Renuka Devi temple to the public water tank.
As per the action plan outlined in the order, screening of suspects, testing of suspected cases, quarantining, isolation, social distancing and other public health measures will be enforced in the containment zone.
Movement of inhabitants of the containment zone has been completely restricted with policemen manning the entry and exit points to the area. District administration officials are keeping a close watch on the situation to ensure that there is no breach of law and order in the containment zone. Moti Dongor is considered a vote bank of Margao MLA Digambar Kamat, and was even when he was in the BJP.
Around 350 houses are located within the containment zone with over 2,000 persons residing in the densely populated slum area.
In Curtorim, Raia, Loutolim and other places, no fresh cases have been detected. Dr Vallabh Nadkarni of the Curtorim primary health centre, said that they have already tested 430 samples and that the number of active cases in Curtorim is on the decline.