An official from Goa’s health department on Thursday said the state’s health services director Dr Jose DSa tested positive for the novel coronavirus disease and has been admitted at a private hospital near the capital city of Panaji.

The official said DSa was hospitalised on Wednesday after he complained of cough and fever and later tested positive for Covid-19 adding that his condition is stable.

According to the union health ministry’s dashboard, Goa has registered over 15,000 Covid-19 cases till now. The total cases include 11,511 discharges, 165 deaths and 3,351 active cases.

The state government has been under pressure from opposition parties over its handling of the Covid-19 situation. Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat questioned the government’s readiness to tackle the crisis after DSa got admitted in a private hospital and not in a state-run facility.

On the other hand, Goa’s health authorities have defended their approach of dealing with the pandemic by saying that the overall fatality rate is less than one per cent and majority of the patients who were at a critical stage have been cured.

Meanwhile, India on Thursday logged its highest-ever spike of 75,760 new Covid-19 cases. The overall tally is now over 3.31 million and the death toll stands at 60,000 while the recovery rate is over 76 per cent.

(with inputs from PTI)