On Wednesday, the Goa government allowed casinos to resume in the state, starting on November 1. After the Goa cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Prime Minister Pramod Sawant said: “The state cabinet has decided to allow the casinos to reopen from November 1.”
Casinos have been closed in the coastal state since the coronavirus outbreak in March. There are six offshore casinos and about a dozen onshore casinos in the western state.
The government also issued the COVID-19 guidelines that casinos must follow when they restart next month. The casinos will operate at 50% capacity. All standard operating procedures announced by the state Department of the Interior to fight COVID-19 must be maintained at casinos.
Casino operators will have to pay license fees before resuming operations, the Goa prime minister said.
The state government previously allowed various commercial and tourism activities in the state to restart to get the economy back on track.
With 215 new cases in the last 24 hours, the coastal state has so far registered 42,747 cases of coronavirus. The number of active COVID-19 patients has risen to 2,384. At least 39,778 have recovered from the infection since the outbreak. The coronavirus has killed 585 lives in the state.
State governments have been urged to take a national approach to engaging with businesses and deciding criteria for COVID-19 vaccination, the Center said Tuesday.
“Overall, we can say responsibly that resources will not be an issue to ensure access to vaccines. We have asked state governments to wait for the big picture to clear up and take a national approach to involve businesses and decide criteria for vaccination. State governments have made these statements and they must be respected, “said NITI Aayog Fellow Dr. VK Paul (Hsaid.
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