by: Navjeevan Express

Ahead of Central team’s visit, CM claims his govt is proactively fighting to contain coronavirus outbreak

NE NEWS SERVICE

AHMEDABAD, APRIL 24

Reacting to the Central government’s comments that its teams would visit hotspots like Ahmedabad and Surat in the state to monitor efforts to control the outbreak, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Friday said his government was working proactively to contain the spread of the coronavirus with aggressive testing and claimed members of the Tablighi Jamaat who returned from a gathering in Delhi last month had caused the COVID-19 numbers to shoot up.

https://twitter.com/DahodMahiti/status/1253225716633661442?s=20

The state has 2,815 COVID-19 cases, and 127 people have died of the infection so far.

“There has been a rise in cases, especially in Ahmedabad, Surat, and Vadodara. Eighty percent of the cases are from these three cities, with Ahmedabad accounting for 60 percent. The higher number of cases in Gujarat is due to aggressive testing,” Rupani said.

He said his government had quarantined 6,000 people who had come from abroad in March.

“But the cases increased after Tablighi Jamaat members met in Delhi last month and then spread the virus to Gujarat and rest of the country,” he added.

The Centre on Friday said its teams would visit hotpsots like Ahmedabad and Surat in the state to monitor efforts to control the outbreak.

“The state has proactively made arrangements to fight COVID-19. In the initial stage, we had 9,500 beds but now we are working to increase that capacity to 25,000. We do not have any problem as far as ventilators, N-95 masks and medicines are concerned as all these things items are manufactured in Gujarat. We bought around 200 ventilators from a Rajkot manufacturer called Jyoti CNC,’ Rupani said.

He added that 80 percent of the patients are asymptomatic, while the death rate due to the infection is three percent.

“People are asking why so many people have died in Gujarat. That is because those who died had comorbidities like high blood pressure, diabetes, and one was even suffering from cancer,” Rupani said.