NE NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD, DEC 19
The Gujarat government on Saturday decided to pay incentive allowance of Rs 5,000 per month with effect from April this year to intern doctors working in hospitals attached to government medical colleges in view of the COVID-19 duty performed by them, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said.
The fact that all restrictions are partly off hardly matters. Covid19 is still here and we need to be as conscious. One of the best ways of staying safe is washing and sanitizing your hands frequently. Stay safe, Wash your hands#LifePositiveCoronaNegative@PMOIndia@CMOGuj pic.twitter.com/62jdeCJY8F
— Amdavad Municipal Corporation (@AmdavadAMC) December 19, 2020
Some 2,200 medical interns of government hospitals and those run by Gujarat Medical Education and Research Society (GMERS) had started a protest on Monday demanding a stipend hike and daily allowance for those on COVID-19 duty.
A government release said the protest was called off on Saturday after talks with Patel, also state health minister, and other officials.
— Nitin Patel (Modi ka Parivar) (@Nitinbhai_Patel) December 19, 2020
“Interns will be paid Rs 5,000 as incentive allowance per month with effect from April this year till February next year when their internship ends,’ Patel said.
While the interns will be paid an allowance for their COVID-19 duty, their stipend remains unchanged at around Rs 13,000 per month, he added.
He said the doctors had offered ‘good service’ during the outbreak and continued to do so across COVID-19 facilities in the state.
1,026 new coronavirus cases, 7 deaths; 1,252 recover
Gujarat recorded 1,026 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, taking the total of COVID-19 cases in the state to 2,34,289, the health department said.
With seven fatalities, the COVID-19 death toll in the state reached 4,227, it said.
A total of 2,17,935 patients have recovered from the viral infection so far, with 1,252 persons discharged from hospitals on Saturday.
With this, the state’s recovery rate stands at 93.02 percent, said the health department in its release.
There are now 12,127 active cases in the state.
As many as 54,365 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours.
Gujarat COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 2,34,289, new cases 1,026, death toll 4,227, active cases 12,127 and people tested so far 89,99,087.
AMC
India’s First World Heritage City Trust solicits entries free of unique Souveniour from artisans / craftsman / manufactures. pic.twitter.com/DBsImNmF5c— Mukesh Kumar (@Mukeshias) December 19, 2020
Ahmedabad logs 220 cases, 4 deaths; 216 discharged
Ahmedabad’s COVID-19 tally rose by 220 on Saturday, the highest for any district in Gujarat, to reach 55,370, while four patients died and 216 people were discharged during the day, an official said.
The toll in the district is 2,205, while 50,157 people have recovered so far, he said.
“Ahmedabad city accounted for 211 of the new cases and 205 of the recoveries. The city’s west and north-west zones account for 424 active cases, followed by the south-west zone with 418. The number of micro containment areas stand at 27,” a civic official said.
The bed occupancy rate in private COVID-19 designated hospitals in the city dropped to a little over 28 percent with 975 out of 3,428 beds in 105 hospitals occupied, the Ahmedabad Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association said.
“As many as 1,005 beds are available in isolation wards of the hospitals against 335 occupied. In ICUs with beds, 154 beds are available and 91 occupied,” it said.
Surat registers 166 cases, 2 deaths; 206 recover
Surat reported 166 COVID-19 cases and two fatalitieson Saturday, taking the tally to 47,367 and toll to 1,118, while 206 people were discharged, said an official.
Surat city accounted for 136 of the new cases and 141 of the people discharged, giving it a recovery rate of 95.35 percent as 33,785 people have recovered, he said.
“Currently, 11,746 people are quarantined in the city and 279 hospitalised, including 88 in civil and SMIMER hospitals which have bed occupancy rates of 2.6 percent and 3.5 percent respectively,” he said.
The official said Athwa and Katargam in city limits have 6,774 and 5,785 cases, while Kamrej leads in rural Surat with 2,449 cases followed by 2,342 in Choryasi.
