NE NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD, MARCH 25
The total number of persons who have tested positive for Covid-19 has reached 36 on Tuesday as six more fresh positive cases reported. One person from Surat and Vadodara and two each from Gandhinagar and Rajkot tested positive on Tuesday, says a health department statement.
State’s Council of Ministers to donate one-month salary to Chief Minister’s Relief Fund in order to minimize the spread of COVID-19 in Gujarat. State government has appealed to various donors to donate in Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. OPD wards will be functional in all hospitals across Gujarat as usual. State government has also appealed to the private practitioners to run OPD free of cost, the core committee on COVID19 said.
Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani will chair the Core Committe to review Covid-19 situation, to meet daily at 5 pm. Chief Minister has assured sustained supply of milk, vegetables, food and grocery items during lock down period. All government offices will remain closed till March 31, 2020, except those catering to essential services which will remain open and work with minimum staff. The state government has announced mass promotion for all students for Standard 1 to 9 and Standard-11; it is holiday for school and college teachers up to March 31, 2020. The Chief Minister inquired seven foreign-returned home-quarantined through videoconferencing from CM’s Dashboard
CM Shri @vijayrupanibjp assures uninterrupted supply and availability of essential commodities and services during the lockdown period and appeals to the people to stay away from panic buying. pic.twitter.com/hw1dZn82Bk
— CMO Gujarat (@CMOGuj) March 24, 2020
One person has died so far in the state because of the pandemic. Even as a 21-day lockdown across the country has been announced, the state government assured people that supply and availability of essential commodities will remain uninterrupted.
FIRs have been filed against four patients in Gandhinagar for violating quarantine norms. A couple who returned from Dubai, along with their relatives, have been booked by Gandhinagar police on Tuesday.
In order to maintain #SocialDistancing even for purchase of essential goods, the district administration is marking the roads at 1 meter distance in front of grocery shops etc. #IndiaFightsCorona#StayHomeStaySafe pic.twitter.com/6Id1YifFhp
— Pankaj Kumar (@pkumarias) March 24, 2020
Local transmission now is close to one-third of all registered cases in Gujarat. By Tuesday evening, over 30 lakh persons have been surveyed across the state, according to state government officials.
युद्ध निर्णायक मोड़ पर पहुँच चुका है । हम विजयी होंगे इसमें दो मत नहीं । बस धैर्य और सावधानी । ये २१ दिन साबित कर देंगे कि हम करते आए हैं और हम फिर से करके दिखाएँगे । क्योंकि हमें हारना मंज़ूर नहीं। क्योंकि हम भारतीय हैं
— Vipul Aggarwal (@ipsvipul_) March 24, 2020
The Rajya Sabha election for four seats of Gujarat, scheduled to be held on March 26, has been postponed indefinitely by the Election Commission of India on Tuesday. New dates for the election will be announced at later, state chief electoral officer S Murali Krishna said.
આજ રોજ કોરોના સંક્રમણ ની મુશ્કેલી ને અનુલક્ષી ને મારા સંસદીય મતક્ષેત્ર વડોદરા ના GMERS હોસ્પિટલ ખાતે બનાવવામાં આવેલ આઈસોલેશન વોર્ડ માટે વેન્ટીલેટર અને અન્ય આરોગ્યલક્ષી જરૂરી સુવિધાઓ નાગરિકો માટે ઉપલબ્ધ કરાવી શકાય તે હેતુ થી રૂ. ૧ કરોડ નું સાંસદ અનુદાન ફાળવ્યું.@narendramodi pic.twitter.com/UnpeWJxdVo
— Ranjan Bhatt (MP) (मोदी का परिवार) (@mpvadodara) March 24, 2020
Cops were seen enforcing the lockdown in all other major cities of Gujarat, even as the state government urged people not to venture out of their homes, except in cases of emergency.
COVID-19 patient couple booked for not disclosing contacts who later got infected
An FIR was registered on Tuesday against a couple, both COVID-19 patients, and one of their relatives in Gandhinagar for allegedly not disclosing the names of two persons who came in contact with them and later tested positive for the coronavirus, an official said.
The couple’s uncle, who was among the two persons who later tested positive for the viral infection, was also booked for not informing health authorities that he came in contact with his nephew after the latter’s return from Dubai, he said.
The couple returned from Dubai on March 16. The 28-year-old man tested positive for coronavirus March 20 while his wife was also diagnosed with the viral infection the next day.
Both of them and their family members had to disclose the names of all the people they met after their return from Dubai, as per a notification of the state health department.
They disclosed the names of 54 people with whom they had come in contact but did not mention the names of their uncle and aunt, both of whom tested positive for the coronavirus on Monday.
“The administration prepared an exhaustive list of 54 people who came in contact with the 28-year-old man (who returned from Dubai) and screened them. But when it came to our notice that the names of his uncle and aunt were not disclosed in the list, we decided to register an FIR against the man and his wife for flouting the health department’s notification,” Gandhinagar collector Kuldeep Arya said.
The man’s uncle and aunt met him at his home in the state capital on March 17, a day after their return to the city from Dubai.
Neither he nor his wife or his sister-in-law disclosed the names of these two persons who tested positive on Monday, following which the three were booked, Arya said.
The uncle, who is also under treatment, was booked for hiding the fact that he met his nephew (who returned from Dubai) on March 17, he said.
The FIR was registered against the four persons at Sector 21 police station in Gandhinagar under IPC Sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and the Epidemic Diseases Act Section 3 (disobeying any regulation or order) and the official said.
