The Goa state government has made quarantine mandatory for those arriving from Kerala, as the latter has been recording a rise in COVID cases. As per the latest reports, the state government has now extended state-level COVID-19 ‘curfew’ by another week up to September 20, and made it mandatory for persons travelling to the state from Kerala to undergo 5-day quarantine.
As per an order that has been issued by the two district magistrates under Section 144 of the CrPC, all employees and students entering the state from Kerala should be subjected to institutional quarantine of five days. Other categories, visiting the state from Kerala, will have to mandatorily produce a negative RT-PCR test certificate and undergo home quarantine for five days.
The order further states, “All arrangements for quarantine of students will be done by the administrators/principals of the educational institutions. For the employees, it shall be done by the respective offices/ companies/firms.”
Reports have it that the said order will not be applicable to healthcare professionals, constitutional functionaries, children below two years, or those with dire emergency, and also those who are passing through the state via train or road.
Earlier, all those entering the state were required to produce a COVID negative certificate, while those who had received their 2nd dose of COVID vaccine at least 14 days ago were exempted. Also, the curfew has been in place since the first week of May as there was a rise in COVID cases across the country; the curfew has been gradually relaxed with each passing week.
