Coronavirus Outbreak: Seven new suspected COVID-19 cases emerge following rapid testing in green zone state Goa

Panaji: Seven persons tested positive for coronavirus in Goa during rapid testing on Wednesday but confirmation of results was awaited, health minister Vishwajit Rane said. Goa has been declared as a Green Zone by the Union government as there was not a single active COVID-19 case since 1 May. “Seven new #COVID19 cases have been reported positive via the TrueNat testing done at Ponda Sub District Hospital. The tests have been further sent to the virology lab at GMC (Goa Medical College) for confirmation, results are awaited,” the minister tweeted.

Update:

7 new #COVID19 cases have been reported positive via the TrueNat testing done at Ponda Sub-District Hospital.

The tests have been further sent to the Virology lab at GMC for confirmation, results are awaited.@MoHFW_INDIA @drharshvardhan @narendramodi

— Vishwajit Rane (@visrane) May 13, 2020

In a late-night statement, chief minister Pramod Sawant said that all seven cases were “imported” ones and results of confirmatory tests were awaited. Six of them were of the family of Goan origins which had travelled to the coastal state from Mumbai, he said. [caption id=“attachment_8263411” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AP[/caption] “All these family members were kept in quarantine facility where they tested positive during rapid testing. Their samples have been sent for a confirmatory test at the virology lab in Goa Medical College and Hospital,” he added. The family was quarantined immediately after their arrival in the state, and had not come in contact with anyone during their stay in Goa, the chief minister said. The seventh person who tested positive in the rapid test was a truck driver who had arrived from Gujarat on Tuesday. “We have quarantined all the people with whom he had come in contact,” Sawant said adding that the results of confirmatory tests conducted on his samples too are awaited. “All these seven cases are imported from other states. They are not from Goa,” the chief minister said adding that local people should still take all the precautions and strictly adhere to lockdown guidelines. On May 1, Goa was declared as Green Zone after all the seven patients which were detected in the state recovered. The state government had allowed the resumption of most of the economic activities including industries.