PANAJI: Goa recorded 1,647 new Covid-19 cases, 2,693 recoveries, and 39 deaths in the past 24 hours. Its active cases stand at 18,243. The case positivity rate went up to 36%, which was 32% on Friday. Dr Jagadish Kakodkar, head of the department of preventive medicine at Goa Medical College (GMC), said their latest surveillance reports showed that Covid infections have spread to peri-urban and rural areas, and 206 hotspots scattered across the state have been detected. Most of the primary health centres that largely have jurisdiction of rural villages now have cases over 500 and more, revealed the health bulletin. The state has been seeing a dip in infections, while the case positivity rate has declined – the weekly positivity rate has been 37.7% – which is still the highest in the country. Kakodkar said that rules will not help unless people follow Covid-19 appropriate behaviour. “The message we are trying to give the public is – don’t neglect your symptoms, immediately consult a doctor,” he said. Out of the total 39 deaths reported on Saturday, 19 occurred in GMC, 15 died at South Goa district hospital (SGDHs), two were recorded by Dharbandora primary health centre, and three lost their lives at a private hospital in South Goa. Of these, two patients had been vaccinated with the first dose and one was fully vaccinated, revealed the mortality bulletin. Eight persons died within few hours after they were shifted to hospital. A 33-year-old woman from Vasco having comorbidities was the youngest person to die due to Covid infection on Saturday. She was admitted at SGDH two days after she was detected positive. The eldest was a 100-year-old man from Navelim, who was under home isolation after testing positive earlier this week. Others were too under home isolation and rushed to the hospital only after their condition had worsened.