NE NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD, MARCH 21
A 52-year-old man with travel history to Sri Lanka tested positive of coronavirus in Gujarat on Saturday, taking the number of such cases in the state to eight, health department officials said.
The new patient is a resident Vadodara, they said.
“A man with travel history to Sri Lanka, tested positive for coronavirus. He was part of a group that had recently travelled to Sri Lanka,” Vadodara collector Shalini Agarwal said.
“Another member of the same group, a woman, had tested positive on Friday,” she said.
This is the third positive case in Vadodara and eighth in Gujarat, Agarwal added.
“The man has been kept in the isolation ward at the SSG Hospital in Vadodara, which is treating the coronavirus patients,” she said
Others, who travelled with them, have also been quarantined, she added.
Section 144 imposed in major cities
Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) has been imposed in major cities of Gujarat by their respective district administration and police officials, thereby prohibiting the assembly of more than four persons and the closure of malls, pubs, theatres, educational institutes, complexes and temples among others, as a preventive measure against the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Gujarat.
The orders were issued on Friday for Ahmedabad city, Ahmedabad rural, Vadodara, Rajkot, Jamnagar and Devbhumi Dwarka even as the count for positive COVID-19 cases in the state reached seven.
Ahmedabad city Commissioner of Police (CP) Aashish Bhatia issued the imposition of section 144 from noon on March 21 to March 31, 2020.
“Recently, the World Health Organisation termed coronavirus as a pandemic and in India itself, more than 200 positive cases have been detected. Therefore, under section 144 of the CRPC, any assembly of more than four persons at a given place in the city area is prohibited. The order will not apply to government officials and funeral processions. Anyone found violating the order will be prosecuted under section 188 of the Indian Penal Code for disobedience,” said a statement from the Ahmedabad city CP’s office.
Similarly, Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Harshad Vora issued a notice under section 144 in Ahmedabad (rural), ordering the closure of malls, multiplexes, swimming pools, dance classes, gyms, clubhouses, sports complexes, paan shops, and educational institutes, among others.
At Rajkot, city CP Manoj Agarwal issued a notice under section 144 under which no permission is to be given to any events of mass gatherings.
Similar prohibitory orders under Section 144 were issued by the district magistrate of Vadodara, district magistrate of Devbhumi Dwarka and ADM of Jamnagar on Friday.
The ongoing protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR) at Shakti Mill society in Rakhial area of Ahmedabad have also been called off.
Also, people have been advised to visit the secretariat and all other government offices across the state only for important matters. People will be allowed into the secretariat and other government offices only by prior appointment.
