Margao: Owing to the sudden surge of eight positive COVID-19 cases in Goa since yesterday after the state was in the ‘Green Zone’, Indian Medical Association Goa has advised the government in the state that a Nasopharyngeal swab test is a must the borders entering Goa.
President of the IMA Goa, Dr Samuel Arawattigi expressed, “All essential service transport drivers and accompanying men should be tested by nasopharyngeal swab at the respective borders irrespective of whether they have any upper respiratory symptoms or fever and allowed entry into the state and be told to be discreet in his movement in the state till it is communicated by authorities about his swab test result. “
Dr Samuel further asserted, “Once report results comes and if by chance a person has reported positive for COVID-19, authorities could trace him easily and limit the spread by immediate tracking and containment as per protocol. It will help the state in proper containment of this COVID-19 pandemic and continue testing the regular people coming legally and quarantining them as per test result.
“We know that as per Guidelines of MHA( Ministry of Home Affairs) drivers and accompanying staff of essential supplies transport should not be tested. It was meant for smooth flows of essential supplies. By our method we are in no way hampering flow of supplies but also keep Goa state safe by fast containment. In case testing facilities are inadequate than pooling of swabs of quarantine people and performing RT-PCR test will help in increasing no of test done( as per guidelines of ICMR), “ Dr Samuel elaborated.
