NE NEWS SERVICE
GANDHINAGAR, APRIL 1
The Department of Health & Family Welfare, Government of Gujarat has launched a dedicated State Covid Helpline – +91 74330 00104 on WhatsApp. This service will be free-to-use and will provide a central source for accurate, trustworthy and up-to-date information around the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, says a health department official.
The GOG COVID-19 Helpline is an automated ‘chatbot’ service which will allow citizens to get verified answers to questions about Coronavirus from the Department of Health & Family Welfare within 24 hours. To begin with, the service will provide information on topics such as Coronavirus prevention and symptoms, advice on staying at home, facts about the virus and details on other general helpline numbers.
મુખ્યમંત્રીશ્રી વિજયભાઈ રૂપાણીએ આજે અમદાવાદ સિવિલ હોસ્પિટલ ખાતે કોરોનાની સારવાર માટે તૈયાર કરાયેલ 1200 બેડની અલાયદી હોસ્પિટલમાં ઉપલબ્ધ સુવિધાઓની જનસંવાદ કેન્દ્રના માધ્યમથી જાતમાહિતી મેળવી હતી તથા યુધ્ધના ધોરણે વ્યવસ્થા ઉભી કરવા બદલ ડોક્ટર્સ તથા મેડિકલ સ્ટાફને અભિનંદન પાઠવ્યા હતા. pic.twitter.com/JdThWewUbP
— CMO Gujarat (@CMOGuj) April 1, 2020
To use the free GOG COVID-19 Helpline on WhatsApp, simply save the number +91-74330 00104 in your phone contacts and then text the word ‘Hi’ in a WhatsApp message to get started. This service will be available only in Gujarati.
વર્તમાન કોરોના વાયરસની સ્થિતિમાં પ્રજાહિતની અવિરત કામગીરીના ઉદ્દાત ભાવથી મુખ્યમંત્રીશ્રી વિજયભાઈ રૂપાણીએ આજે નાયબ મુખ્યમંત્રીની હાજરીમાં જિલ્લા મથકોમાં રહેલા મંત્રીમંડળના સભ્યો સાથે વીડિયો કોન્ફરન્સથી કેબિનેટ બેઠક યોજી હતી. આ પ્રકારનો પ્રયોગ દેશભરમાં પ્રથમવાર ગુજરાતે કર્યો છે. pic.twitter.com/LtORl7cJWd
— CMO Gujarat (@CMOGuj) April 1, 2020
Urging the citizens to rely on verified and official sources for information on the ongoing pandemic, Vijay Rupani, Chief Minister of Gujarat said, “Citizens in the region can rely on the GOG COVID-19 Helpline for authentic information from the State Health Department. I commend officers of the team Health of Gujarat and WhatsApp for this initiative”.
https://twitter.com/CMOGuj/status/1245209697549987841?s=20
“Access to credible sources of information is critical to battling Coronavirus and is our top priority. We are pleased to have this opportunity to work with the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Gujarat on this initiative. We encourage users to depend on verified sources for any information during this pandemic,” added Abhijit Bose, Head of India for WhatsApp.
In addition to the MyGov central helpline, similar services have been introduced in several states of India to empower users to find credible information both in English and their specific regional language. Users can now reach Health Departments of Maharashtra (+91 20 2612 7394) and Kerala (+91 90722 20183) on WhatsApp with more states to launch in the coming days. Users can reach out to the fact-checking community by visiting our recently launched WhatsApp Coronavirus Information hub whatsapp.com/coronavirus.
8 new Coronavirus positive cases in Gujarat take total to 82
In Gujarat, eight new COVID-19 cases detected in the state since Tuesday evening taking the total number of confirmed cases up to 82.
Briefing the media persons at Gandhinagar on Wednesday afternoon, the Principal Secretary of State Health Department Dr Jayanti Ravi said that with total 32 confirmed cases – Ahmedabad city has been declared hotspot for Coronavirus by the Centre.
All the new cases were reported from Ahmedabad, which has been declared as one of the COVID-19 hotspots in India.
Of the eight new patients, four have a history of inter-state travel, three are cases of local transmission while one person has foreign travel history, Principal Secretary (Health) Jayanti Ravi said.
With this, the number of local transmission cases in the state has gone up to 41, those having foreign travel history has risen to 33, and eight patients have inter-state travel history, she said.
Six people have died in Gujarat due to the deadly virus, the official said.
She also said that six patients have so far been discharged, and the condition of 66 is stable, while three are on ventilator support.
These new cases were reported from Ahmedabad (32 cases), Gandhinagar (10 cases), Surat (10 cases), Rajkot (10 cases), Vadodara (9 cases), Bhavnagar (6 cases), Gir Somnath (2 cases), Mehsana (1 case), Kutch (1 case), Porbandar (1 case).
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