CAP OF 100 PEOPLE FOR OPEN-AIR EVENTS; 50 PC CAPACITY FOR CLOSED VENUES
PANAJI
The State government on Friday imposed fresh restrictions under the Epidemic Act including restricting crowd gathering to 100 people in all public spaces but has refrained from imposing any night curfew despite a big surge in daily cases.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said due to the steep hike in Covid cases it has been decided to restrict public gatherings to a maximum of 100 people in open-air venues and public palces, including markets.
All indoor venues will have to operate at 50 per-cent capacity with not more than 100 people accommodated at a time, Sawant said at a specially convened press conference on Friday evening.
The restrictions will also apply to markets, public meetings, political meetings, and beaches.
“A maximum of 100 people will be allowed at any one point of time,” Sawant said, adding that some concession will be made for people to enter and leave the venue.
A formal order enlisting all these restrictions will be issued by the Health Department under the Epidemic Act by tonight, Sawant said.
All orders related to restrictions issued on December 29 last under the Disaster Management Act and an earlier one specifying SOPs issued by the tourism department for events and venues will continue to hold good, Sawant said, adding that a review of the restrictions will be done after January 26.
Sawant also said that the government has refrained from imposing any night curfew for now and agencies will go about ensuring the strict implementation of the restrictions from Saturday.
Meanwhile, Goa University will hold the final-year examinations of its graduate and post-graduate programmes in offline mode in the interest of students.
“Final year students go for higher education and jobs. In their interest, it is better that their exams are held offline,” Sawant said.
In yet another decision the government has okayed auto-renewal of the health insurance DDSSY cards which covers card-holders for 2022-23 to a maximum of Rs 4 lakh including services in private hospitals.
Cardholders will not be required to visit DDSSY kendras to comply with any renewal formalities a statement issued by Sawant’s office had said earlier on Friday morning.
