Panaji, Aug 12 (IANS): Amid a sustained spike in the coronavirus cases, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday said that the state's second designated Covid-19 hospital was now operational.

Sawant said that fake news was circulating which said that the state government was being funded to the extent of Rs 1.5 lakh for every Covid-19 positive patient by the Central government.

"The state's second Covid hospital has started. 27 patients have been admitted there today. Currently, four private hospitals have also agreed to admit Covid patients in the state," Sawant said.

The new facility is an existing sub district hospital located in Ponda in South Goa and has a capacity of more than 400 beds.

The Chief Minister said that the state government had only got Rs six crore from the Centre for Covid management efforts. "Such fake news, which is circulated by people with perverted minds only creates confusion. We have got only Rs six crore from the Centre as of now. We are asking for more because of the number of cases which are coming to the fore in the state," Sawant said.

The Chief Minister added that more Covid-19 positive cases were showing up in Goa because of the high testing ratio in the state.

"We are conducting the highest amount of testing in the country at 90,000 persons per million. Delhi is second with 65,000 per million," Sawant said.

In all, 9,444 confirmed cases have been reported in Goa out of which 2,878 are still active. A total of 86 persons in the state have died due to the virus.

The Chief Minister made a public appeal for donations to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund, adding that the state government had also tied up with a leading event management company for hosting an online charity music show to raise funds.