All 7 Covid-19 cases recovered in Goa: How did the state manage to fight the pandemic?

Team Udayavani, Apr 27, 2020, 2:35 PM IST

Goa discharged its seventh and last Covid-19 patient on April 20, making it India’s first state with zero active cases, Goa has set an example for the other states to follow in dealing with the pandemic.

What has helped the state fight back against Covid-19

Goa started preparing for Covid-19 cases even before the state reported its first case. It was one of the first states to go into a lockdown and they were insisting that there should not be movement of people inter-state.

They created a tremendous amount of awareness among the people about coronavirus, and started  training among their staff, creating capacity.

When the state detected their first case, whole system was well-equipped to trace the people and all the seven positive people who came from a ship were detected. Goa had people coming in from the ships from places such as Spain and Italy, which were infested with coronavirus and was one of the main concerns for the state.

They also put random testing protocols in place and were suspending all the out-patient departments. The state tracked all the foreign tourists, who were in Goa and quarantined them.

The state also reduced interface between the people and the doctors using innovation in technologies such as CallDoc and tele-consultations.The state has also tested more than 5,000 people by doing a door to door survey.

At present, the state has two large hospitals, Manipal Group of Hospitals and Healthway and also a dedicated Covid-19 hospital.

Goa is surrounded by Karnataka, Maharashtra and Kerala. Now, They are making kiosks available at the borders, in industrial estates, making sample collection also easy.