by: Navjeevan Express

COVID-19: 66 new cases reported, state tally zooms to 572

NE NEWS SERVICE

GANDHINAGAR, APRIL 13

With intensified surveillance and testing for coronavirus in the 28 hotspots in Gujarat’s five major cities, 66 more positive cases surfaced on Monday, a health official said.

Besides, the number of death rose to 26 after two more patients succumbed to coronavirus in the state.

Following aggressive testing by the authorities, 22 positive cases were reported in the morning and 34 in the evening, taking the state’s tally of positive cases to 572. A total of 26 people have succumbed to the dreaded virus so far.

More than half of Gujarat’s positive cases have been found in Ahmedabad.

Out of the 34 cases which were reported on Monday evening, 25 were from Ahmedabad, five from Vadodara and four from Bharuch.

Gujarat now has a total of 572 positive cases, out of which 320 are from Ahmedabad, followed by Vadodara (107), Surat (33), Bhavnagar (23), Rajkot (18), Gandhinagar (15), Patan (14), Bharuch (11), Anand (9), Kutch (4), Porbandar and Chhota Udepur (3 each), Mehsana, Banaskantha, Panchmahals, and Gir-Somnath (2 each) and Jamnagar, Morbi, Sabarkantha, and Dahod (1 each).

“Out of the total 492 active cases, the condition of 484 is stable, whereas the condition of eight is critical and they have been put on ventilator,” said Jayanti Ravi, Principal Secretary at the Health and Family Welfare Department.

“All medical colleges in Gujarat have applied to the central government to seek permission for coronavirus testing. Private laboratories can also apply. This is being done to increase the rate of testing,” Ravi said.

In the last 24 hours, health authorities tested 2,536 persons, out of which 60 have tested positive, 1,767 returned negative while 709 reports are pending.

On Monday, eight persons were discharged from the hospitals after being cured, including four from Patan, one from Gandhinagar, one from Bhavnagar and one from Rajkot. A total of 54 patients have been discharged to date.

“The total number of people quarantined in the state is 14,204 – 12,584 in-home quarantine, 1,442 in government facilities and 178 in private facilities,” added Ravi.

Earlier in the day, the Gujarat Police had announced that it will intensify the surveillance and patrolling in the clusters or hotspots in five major cities.

“The police will be concentrating more on the clusters with increased patrolling. More vehicles for that have also been requisitioned. Wherever monitoring is not possible through drones or CCTV, we will be setting up terrace points. We are also going to increase the number of checkpoints,” said Shivanand Jha, Directorate General of Police (DGP), Gujarat.

“We will also randomly check the CCTV footage of the societies and apartments, and file complaints against those found violating the lockdown measures,” Jha added.