panaji health minister vishwajit rane said on thursday that in view of the new year celebrations it is very important that the expert committee makes strong recommendations to the government the notable jump in case positivity rate from 0 to 723 is a matter of concern it is a critical stage as goa is a small state he saidin view of the new year celebrations it is very important that the expert committee makes strong recommendations to the government so that we can act accordingly rane said the jump in the positivity rate he said indicates the rise in covid cases in goai have instructed the director of health services and the gmc dean to hold a meeting with an expert group of doctors and take a review of the situation and suggest stringent measures rane said goa has logged 543 fresh cases in the last three days alonethe expert committee on tuesday had suggested a slew of measures including imposition of night curfew chief minister pramod sawant chaired a meeting of expert doctors on wednesday and orders were issued later in the evening that visitors should either produce a certification of full vaccination or a covid negative report for an entry into a casino spa and parlour theatre places of amusement night club cinema halls the order said that casinos should function at 50 of their capacity and covid protocols in place should be followed thoroughlysawant said the recommendation of the expert to impose night curfew immediately was not possible since goa is a tourist statesince the beginning of the christmas week the state has witnessed a massive rise in footfalls and most coastal belts and other tourist spots have been crowded with mostly domestic tourists leaving hardly any scope to maintain social distance or follow other covid protocols a hotelier in north goa told toi