NE NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD, SEPT 20
Four Gujarat MLAs — three from the Congress and one from the ruling BJP — tested coronavirus positive on Sunday, a day before the five-day monsoon session of the state Assembly begins, an official said.
As part of the safety arrangements amid the COVID-19 outbreak, all Assembly staffers have been tested and legislators would also be checked for the infection, with 56 Congress and 80 BJP MLAs having already undergone the procedure, officials said.
“Four MLAs — three from the Congress and one from the BJP — tested positive for coronavirus,” Gandhinagar Municipal Commissioner Ratankanvar Gadhavicharan said.
Congress chief whip Shailesh Parmar said 56 Congress legislators have been tested so far, some would get it done in their respective constituencies, while others will be tested on Monday.
An official said the MLAs who have not been tested so far will have to undergo the procedure before the session begins.
The ruling BJP has 103 legislators in the House, while the Congress has 65.
In our quest to identify every single individual effected with Covid19, so as to treat them at the earliest & minimize further spread,We are doing tests at every possible location across all zones. Get yourself tested at a centre close-by#TestIsBest#TestOneTestAll pic.twitter.com/grJfWd0Ag2
— Amdavad Municipal Corporation (@AmdavadAMC) September 20, 2020
Gujarat adds 1,407 fresh cases; 1,204 recover, 17 die
Gujarat on Sunday reported 1,407 new coronavirus positive cases, taking the tally of infections to 1,23,337, the state health department said.
With 17 deaths, including five in Surat, the total count of fatalities rose to 3,322, it said.
A total of 1,204 patients were discharged during the day, taking the total number of recoveries in the state to 1,03,775, the department said in a release.
The state now has 16,240 active cases, it said.
While four fatalities were reported from Ahmedabad, three patients died each in Gandhinagar and Bhavnagar. One person each succumbed to the infection in Junagadh and Rajkot.
At 283, Surat reported the highest number of new cases in the state in the day, followed by 183 cases in Ahmedabad.
Rajkot, Vadodara, and Jamnagar added 164, 140, and 129 new infections, respectively.
Elsewhere, Mehsana reported 53 fresh cases, Bhavnagar 50, Gandhinagar 44, Junagadh 37, Kutch 35, Panchmahal 29, Banaskantha 27, Amreli and Jamnagar 24 each, Bharuch and Patan 22 each, Surendranagar 20, Morbi 19, Sabarkantha 17, Kheda 14, Dahod and Gir Somnath 13 each, etc.
With 60,687 more tests, the total number of samples tested in the state rose to 38,00,469.
Gujarat COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 1,23,337, new cases 1,407, deaths 3,322, discharged 1,03,775, active cases 16,240, and people tested so far 38,00,469.
Ahmedabad adds 183 new cases; four die
The number of COVID-19 cases in Ahmedabad district rose to 34,941 on Sunday with the addition of 183 patients, the Gujarat health department said.
With four deaths, the toll went up to 1,798, it said.
A total of 145 patients were discharged during the day, taking the total count of recoveries in the district to 29,121, the department said in its release.
Of the 183 fresh cases, 161 were reported from Ahmedabad city and 22 from rural areas.
All the four fatalities occurred in the city, it said.
The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) said that of the total 2,442 passengers, who were tested for coronavirus on their arrival at the city railway station during the day, 42 were found infected.
Out of these passengers, 23 were taken to the COVID Care centre set up by the Ahmedabad railway division, and the remaining 19 were home quarantined, it said.
As per the AMC’s latest bulletin, there are 3,487 active cases in the city, with the highest number of 611 cases being reported from the west zone, out of the total seven zones.
The city has so far reported a total of 1,737 deaths, with the civil hospital alone accounting for 680 fatalities, the civic body said.
With 22 new cases, the total number of COVID-19 cases in rural Ahmedabad rose to 2,215.
The recovery rate in rural Ahmedabad stood at 95 per cent with the count of recovered cases rising to 2,098.
Surat reports 283 new cases; five die
The number of COVID-19 cases in Surat district rose by 283, the highest in Gujarat, to 25,255 on Sunday, the state health department said. Five deaths took a total toll in the district to 898, it said.
At 286, the Surat district also reported the highest number of recoveries, including 185 in Surat city, in the state. Of the 283 new patients, Surat city reported181 cases and rural areas 102.
Out of the total five fatalities, four occurred in rural areas while one patient died in the city. Meanwhile, 16 of 884 employees working at various petrol pumps in the city tested coronavirus positive in the day, the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) said, adding that a petrol pump was closed after 12 employees tested positive.
A total of 344 were fined by the civic body for violation of COVID-19 norms and Rs 90,500 was collected from them, it said. Out of 3,046 beds available for COVID-19 patients in two civic-run hospitals, 249 are occupied, including 142 in the civil hospital, and 107 in SMIMER Hospital.
