Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant admitted Monday that he did not gauge the severeness of the situation earlier, and only realised it after attending the all chief minister video conference chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Sawant, till March 20 continued to take corner meetings across Goa, while campaigning for Zila Panchayat elections, even as his government invoked the Epidemic Act a week prior. He also came down with much criticism as he continued to take meetings in the belief that only those who travel from abroad get infected. "We did not gauge the severity of this earlier. We began to realise the severity of it only after the video conference with Prime Minister NarendraModiji on March 20," Sawant told a press conference on Monday. His government now is taking advise from Union Home Minister Amit Shah every day, with his office updating them on the efforts, he added. Till date Goa hasn't had a single tested positive case for the Corona Virus. Goa also is now among the first to extend the Junta Curfew till March 25, with the government expected to take a fresh view on the situation again on March 26. Earlier, in almost every election campaign meet Sawant urged people to come out in large numbers to vote for BJP candidates in north and south Goa constituencies. Earlier the High Court too pulled the Government for the casual manner in which awareness of the pandemic was being shown.
