Panaji, Nov 24 (IANS): Hotel managements in Goa have been directed to mandatorily use thermal guns in order to screen their guests, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Tuesday. Sawant also said that family members should not delay testing and admission of persons at home, suffering from Covid-19 like symptoms in order to bring down the Covid-19 death rate in the coastal state.

"We are urging tourists to take precautions. Now hotels have been told to conduct compulsory thermal screening and conduct segregation if necessary," Sawant told reporters outside the State Secretariat on Tuesday.

When asked about the recent chaos at Goa's beaches and casinos, where thousands of tourists were filmed and photographed without masks or maintaining social distancing norms over the last weekend, Sawant made a public appeal to tourists visiting Goa.

"At tourism places like beaches, hotel or party sites social distancing should be maintained," Sawant said, adding that Goa needed to be cautious about the new wave of infections not just in Indian cities, but also also in Europe.

"The infection spreads faster in places which have severe cold and pollution, because the illness is related to the chest and lungs. We do not have a severe cold here in Goa, but we need to be careful in the months of December and January, when it can get chilly," Sawant said.

Sawant said that Goans should make efforts to bring the mortality rate down to zero, as was the case on Monday, when the state recorded zero Covid-19 related deaths.

"If you have the slightest of symptoms get yourself tested. We are still testing in a big way. Do not wait for the last minute to visit a hospital. If family members sense that someone is unwell, get them tested. Yesterday we had a zero-mortality rate, let us maintain it at zero," Sawant said.