NE NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD, NOV 18
Gujarat reported 1,281 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, taking its COVID-19 tally to 1,91,642, while 1,274 more patients recovered from the infection, the state health department said.
Eight more COVID-19 patients died, raising the state-wide fatalities to 3,823, it said.
At the same time, 1,274 patients were discharged from various hospitals, said the department in a release.
With this, the number of recovered cases in Gujarat rose to 1,75,362, with the recovery rate increasing slightly over last day to 91.50 per cent, it said.
Enough beds available for COVID-19 patients in Ahmedabad: Dr RK Gupta
The government said it is increasing the number of daily testing for the virus in order to detect new cases and contain its spread after noticing a spike in the last few days.
As many as 54,246 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours at a rate of 834.71 tests per day per million population, the release said.
This took the total number of samples tested so far to 69,78,249.
Surat again overtook Ahmedabad to report the highest number of daily cases at 224. Ahmedabad followed closely with 220 cases, the release said.
Rajkot also reported a sharp rise in new cases with 161 infections recorded on Wednesday.
Vadodara stood fourth in the state with 142 cases.
Among other districts, Banaskantha reported 64 cases, Gandhinagar 59, Mehsana 45, Patan 42, Dahod 35, Jamnagar 33, Kheda 26, Mahisagar 25, Amreli 23, Junagadh 20, Panchmahal 18, Surendranagar, Anand and Morbi 15 each, Bhavnagar 14 and Narmada 13.
Ahmedabad reported five out of the eight new deaths while Surat registered two and Patan one, the release said.
There are now 12,457 active cases in the state with 83 patients on ventilators, it added.
In the Union territory of Daman, Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, the COVID-19 count rose to 3,277 with the addition of eight new cases – five in Daman and three in DNH – officials said.
Diu district remains COVID-19 free with not a single active case at present, they said.
There are a total of 29 active cases in the UT, which has so far reported two deaths, the officials added.
Gujarat COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 1,91,642, new cases 1,281, deaths 3,823, discharged 1,75,362, active cases 12,457, people tested so far 69,78,249.
હોસ્પિટલ્સ માં બેડ ઉપલબ્ધ નથી અને લોકડાઉન લાગુ થશે એ પ્રકાર ની ભ્રામક ખબરો માં તથ્ય નથી જ.
હજુ લગભગ 40 % બેડ ઉપલબ્ધ છે.
એડિશનલ ચીફ સેક્રેટરી @drrajivguptaias એ કરી સ્પષ્ટતા. pic.twitter.com/YlEq1pCCSp
— Janak Dave (@dave_janak) November 18, 2020
Ahmedabad reports 220 cases, 221 recoveries; 5 die
Ahmedabad district reported 220 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, taking its tally to 46,022, the state health department said.
With five more deaths, the fatalities in the district rose to 1,949, the department said.
With 221 more recoveries, the number of patients who have been discharged from hospitals rose to 40,753, it said.
Amid a sudden spike in new cases during the festive season, officials said an adequate number of beds have been made available for COVID-19 patients in city hospitals.
As many as 40 percent beds in hospitals are still available for coronavirus patients, said Additional Chief Secretary, Rajiv Kumar Gupta, who has been appointed the officer on special duty for COVID-19 in Ahmedabad city.
As per Gupta, out of 7,279 beds made available for COVID-19 patients in seven government and 76 designated private hospitals, 2,848 beds, that is 40 per cent, are still available.
These include 2,347 beds in government hospitals and 501 beds in designated private hospitals.
The number of micro containment areas in the city also saw a rise with 14 such areas added to the list, taking the total to 100, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) said.
Residential localities and as well as individual apartments are designated as containment areas after new COVID-19 cases are detected there. This enables the civic body to carry out surveillance and other activities to contain the spread of COVID-19.
The highest number of active cases are in the city”s western zone (461) followed by north-west zone (457) and south zone (439), the AMC said.
224 new coronavirus cases in Surat, two deaths
Surat district reported 224 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, raising its tally to 39,204, the Gujarat health department said.
With two fatalities, the COVID-19 death toll in the district rose to 1,043, it said.
Both the city and the rural parts reported fewer recoveries compared to new cases.
While Surat city reported 181 new cases and 152 recoveries, the rural parts of the district reported 43 new cases and 39 recoveries, the department said.
As per the Surat Municipal Corporation, the city’s recovery rate is 94.1 percent with total 27,876 patients discharged so far.
The civic body said in its release that 11,948 people were quarantined.
As many as 346 patients are admitted to COVID-19 hospitals, including 76 in the civil hospital and 68 in the SMIMER Hospital, it said.
The bed occupancy rates of civil hospital and SMIMER Hospital are 3.51 and 8.28 per cent, respectively.
In rural Surat, 1,648 people are quarantined, officials said.
Kamrej tehsil continues to report the highest number of new cases, with 14 cases reported on Wednesday taking its caseload to 2,164, highest among nine tehsils, said officials.
