Panaji, Dec 10 (IANS): Wedding functions, where social distancing and wearing of masks is not followed, are adding to Goa's Covid-19 tally, state's only medical college Dean Dr SM Bandekar said on Thursday.

Addressing a press conference here, the Goa Medical College Dean said that people in Goa appeared to be considering Covid-19 as a "common cold" now, neglecting statutory precautions and thus turned "bindaas" (carefree).

"Social distancing and wearing masks has been forgotten. Mostly, people are considering Covid-19 as some common cold now. Earlier, when there was one patient in Goa, there were shockwaves. People would not look at a patient, thinking that just by looking at them they will get infected," he said.

"But now they are so 'bindaas' that they are not even wearing masks. At many weddings I have gone to, I have seen people without masks. It is a humble request that people should wear at least the masks, keep social distancing and avoid crowding. If that can be done, we can definitely avoid a second wave," he also said.

"Just one wedding function (led to) 100 cases. Some of these functions are giving rise to corona cases," Bandekar said.

There are more than 1,200 active Covid-19 cases in the state. In all, 49,036 cases were reported in Goa since the pandemic broke out.

"If we start getting 200 to 250 cases again, there will be flooding of hospitals. You know how bad it was over the last nine months," Bandekar said.

Bandekar said that if people in Goa wanted to keep the second wave of infections at bay, observing government SOPs and following the most elementary social distancing and mask-wearing norms was the key.