Goa Governor blames 'error of judgment' for Covid-19 situation

Goa Governor Satya Pal Malik on Thursday blamed the rising number of coronavirus cases in the state on an "error of judgment" by the state government, and said it let down its guard prematurely.

Goa "got satisfied" about the virus situation too early, Malik said.

He was speaking to the media after attending a meeting with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane and officials to review the Covid-19 situation ahead of a three-day lockdown which will start in the state from Friday.

"As far as tests are concerned, Goa is doing good. Covid care management is also good," he said.

"But we got satisfied when we should not have got satisfied. We withdrew the lockdown then and we are doing the (fresh) lockdown (when cases have increased)," Malik said.

When people of Vasco town demanded lockdown to contain the virus spread, the government did not pay heed, due to which the number of cases in that area increased, he said.

He described entire sequence of decisions as an "error of judgment" on the part of the BJP-led state government.

"Lockdown should have been imposed when there was demand," Malik said .

During the meeting, a lot of issues were discussed and he praised the government wherever it had done a good job and also pointed out the lapses, he said.

On chief minister Sawant's statement that the governor blamed the media during the meeting for putting out wrong information about the coronavirus outbreak, Malik denied it.

"It is wrong to say that I blamed the media. There was no issue about media. I have never criticized the press. The press is our strength which give us feedback. CM should not have said that. I never said that," he said.

He also asked the state government to address issues such as the quality of food and hygiene at Covid Care Centres, the governor said.

It was decided that one Covid Care Centre should be set up in each tehsil, he informed.

On COVID-19 deaths, Malik said that they are being attributed to co-morbid conditions of patients.

"I told them that you should treat the patients with comorbid conditions. You are only treating corona, what will happen to the rest of the ailments they are facing? There should be total treatment," he said.

With its biggest single-day spike of 198 Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, Goa's tally of patients grew to 2,951. 18 coronavirus patients have died in the coastal state so far as per the health department.