by: Navjeevan Express

Gujarat fighting COVID-19 on war-footing under the leadership of Chief Minister: Ravi

NE NEWS SERVICE

GANDHINAGAR, APRIL 26

Even as the tally of COVID-19 patients in Gujarat grew to 3,301 after 230 new cases were reported on Sunday, a senior health department official on Sunday claimed that the state government has been fighting the pandemic on a war-footing under the leadership of Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

The count of deaths due to the infection reached 151 with the addition of 18 victims, a health official said.

Ahmedabad reported 178 out of the 230 fresh cases, taking the number of cases in the district to 2,181.

All the 18 deaths reported on Sunday were from Ahmedabad, due to which the toll in the district grew to 104, the official said.

Ten out of the 18 the deceased suffered from co-morbid conditions.

“Apart from Ahmedabad, Surat reported 30 new cases, Anand eight, Gandhinagar two, Rajkot and Vadodara four each, and Banaskantha, Kheda, Navsari and Patan one each,” Principal Secretary (Health), Jayanti Ravi said.

A total of 31 patients were discharged on Sunday, taking the number of recovered cases to 313.

There are 2,831 active cases in the state. Of these patients, 27 are on ventilator, she said.

The COVID-19 figures in Gujarat as follows: Positive cases: 3,301,new cases: 230, deaths: 151, discharge: 313, active cases: 2,831; people tested so far: 51,091.

Spl COVID-19 hospitals set up in 4 mega cities, 10,500 beds in 25 govt, 31 pvt hospitals dedicated to pandemic

 Gujarat Government has equipped itself by creating and setting aside 4,000 beds in the dedicated hospitals in four municipal corporations of Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, and Rajkot, respectively, for the treatment of COVID-19 patients to fight the increasing spread of novel coronavirus on a war-footing under the leadership of Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

A high-level committee of senior secretaries has been constituted and entrusted with the task of complete management of the situation.

Giving details of the broad steps undertaken, Principal Secretary for Health Jayanti Ravi said, “10,500 beds have been created for the treatment of COVID-19 patients in 25 government hospitals and 31 private hospitals attached with Prime Minister’s Jan Arogya Yojana in district headquarters besides three private hospitals recognised as COVID-19 Hospitals by respective district collectors.”

While there is a huge demand for costly ventilators in the entire world for the treatment of novel coronavirus, Dr Ravi said the Rajkot-based Jyoti CNC, inspired by the Chief Minister, has started producing indigenously affordable successfully tested Dhaman-1 ventilators at a cost of Rs one lakh. There are 1,061 ventilators available in government hospitals and 1,700 in private hospitals, while orders have been placed for 1,000 more ventilators, she said.

Virus situation better than Italy, Spain, France: Official

Gujarat, which has nearly the same population as Italy, France, and Spain, reported fewer COVID-19 cases in 35 days after the detection of the first case in the state as compared to the three European countries, a state health department official said on Sunday.

This is mainly due to measures like lockdown and containment strategy for people returning from abroad, state principal secretary (health) Jayanti Ravi told reporters.

The coronavirus cases in Gujarat rose to 3,071 in 35 days since the first patient was found, compared to 80,536 in Italy, 56,972 in France, and 94,410 cases in Spain, she said.

The population of Italy is 6.04 crore, France-6.5 crore, Spain-4.7 crore, while the population of Gujarat is 6.25 crore, the official informed.

“It shows that several factors, like lockdown and containment of people returning from abroad by getting them immediately quarantined and isolated, have helped contain the spread of the disease,” the official said.

Factors like the use of BCG vaccine and warmer climate in Gujarat compared to these three European countries may have also played a role in curbing the virus spread, she said, adding that ‘this comparison is just for our information’.

Gujarat has so far reported the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases in the country after Maharashtra.

Till Saturday, there were 3,071 coronavirus cases in Gujarat, compared to 7,628 cases in Maharashtra.

Besides, Gujarat has so far reported 133 COVID-19 deaths, the second-highest after Maharashtra where 323 people have died.

Gujarat reported its first double-digit single-day jump in coronavirus cases on April 4, when 17 new cases were reported.

On April 10, it reported its first three-digit single-day jump of 124 cases, and on April 18 recorded its highest single-day jump of 332 cases.

Ravi said the state government is prepared to deal with a higher number of coronavirus cases and has created the infrastructure for the same.

As many as 10,500 beds have been set up across 61 hospitals in the state to deal with such patients, along with 22,385 beds in 150 COVID care centres for asymptomatic patients, she said.

The coronavirus testing capacity has also been increased to 3,770 samples per day, compared to 150 samples per day during the first week of the outbreak, she said.

Avoid unnecessary movement during lockdown: DGP

Director-General of Police Shivanand Jha on Sunday said that people should avoid unnecessary movement and cooperate during the lockdown. Police are taking effective steps to enforce lockdown across the state and maintain social-distancing. People who are roaming around unnecessary, their vehicles will be detained.

Briefing about lockdown in a press conference, Jha said, “Only private vehicles have been allowed to carry essential items during the lockdown. Passenger vehicles are not allowed for this purpose. Rickshaws and taxis will be detained in case they run on the roads. A case has come to light where a vehicle designated for milk distribution was found to be smuggling liquor in Botad on Sunday. The vehicle has been detained.”

Special vigilance and continuous monitoring are being done in containment areas.

He also asked citizens to dial police control number 100 if they find the unnecessary gathering of people. The police will take adequate actions against those violating the lockdown.

Throwing light on the significant use of drones and CCTV during the lockdown,  Jha said that, the cities and towns are being thoroughly observed through drone surveillance. 363 crimes have been registered through drones. A total of 17,768 people have been arrested for 8,910 offenses to date. Meanwhile, under the Smart City and VISWAS project, 69 individuals have been arrested for 62 crimes reported through the CCTV network tallying up to 2,638 individuals. Additionally, 291 crimes have been registered so far and 504 people have been arrested through CCTV’s in residential societies.

For spreading fake messages and rumors on social media, a total of 479 crimes have been registered and 938 accused have been arrested. 913 and 537 offenses have been registered through videography and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) respectively. 334 offenses have been registered to date through mounted cameras in special ‘Prahari’ Vans.