NE NEWS SERVICE
GANDHINAGAR, JULY 17
A NITI Aayog member said after visiting Gujarat on Friday that India’s experience, especially in Delhi and Ahmedabad, shows that the coronavirus pandemic can be controlled without stringent restrictions.
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— DD News (@DDNewslive) July 17, 2020
NITI Aayog member Dr Vinod Paul was part of a Central team that praised the Gujarat government’s efforts in the battle against the virus.
The Central Team which is on Gujarat visit to review COVID19 situation held a high-level meeting with CM, Dy CM & senior bureaucrats in which the CM expressed confidence that the State Govt will win the corona battle by forming a strategy based on the Central Team's suggestions. pic.twitter.com/11SLxUCs2S
— CMO Gujarat (@CMOGuj) July 17, 2020
A team of AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria, Paul, Director General of ICMR Dr Balram Bhargav, and Additional Secretary in the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Arti Ahuja visited Surat and Ahmedabad on Friday to review the coronavirus situation and to provide necessary guidance.
It will review the coronavirus situation in other districts in the state on Saturday before leaving for Delhi.
“We can control the pandemic without imposing any stringent restrictions. This has been proved in Delhi and Ahmedabad. Our fight will continue for some more time. Looking at the size of our population, it will be a long journey,” Paul told the media in Gandhinagar.
“This virus is going to stay here for many more months,” he said.
Paul praised the Gujarat government for implementing some “best practices” to contain the virus in Ahmedabad and Surat, the two worst-affected districts in the state.
He listed proactive surveillance, setting up community COVID centres and the use of Dhanvantari Raths or mobile vans for conducting tests among these practises.
મુખ્યમંત્રીશ્રી વિજયભાઈ રૂપાણીએ આજે સુરતમાં નવી સિવીલ હોસ્પિટલ કેમ્પસમાં નિર્માણાધિન સ્ટેમસેલ હોસ્પિટલમાં યુદ્ધના ધોરણે માત્ર 15 દિવસમાં ઊભી કરવામાં આવેલ 211 ICU બેડ સહિત 1000 બેડની ડેડીકેટેડ કોવિડ હોસ્પિટલનું ઇ-લોકાર્પણ નાયબ મુખ્યમંત્રીશ્રીની ઉપસ્થિતીમાં ગાંધીનગરથી કર્યુ હતું. pic.twitter.com/Q48EqFI0rA
— CMO Gujarat (@CMOGuj) July 17, 2020
It is important to ensure the safety of workers when they return to work so that factories can resume operations and “we are able to once again raise our GDP”, he said.
“In Surat, authorities have come up with Standard Operating Procedures for diamond and textile units to stop the spread among the workers. We want these SOP to be given a generic form so that it can be implemented across India in other small and medium scale industries,” said Paul.
All India Institute of Medical Sciences director Dr Guleria said the situation has improved a lot in Ahmedabad as the growth rate of cases and fatalities have come down.
“This was due to the hard work of local authorities in identifying the areas that can become future hotspots and working on them,” he said.
He also stressed training workers about hygiene and social distancing at work.
The central team visited Surat in the morning and held discussions with senior officials and doctors of the civil hospital and also visited containment areas in the city before leaving for Ahmedabad.
In Ahmedabad, the team met municipal officers and doctors involved in the fight against coronavirus.
Later in the evening team members met Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and senior state government officers and provided their feedback.
Coronavirus cases crossed 46,000 in Gujarat on Friday while the death toll has crossed 2,100.
#कोरोना संक्रमण रोकने को लेकर ACS @drrajivguptaias और @AmdavadAMC कमिश्नर @Mukeshias द्वारा बनाई स्ट्रेटेजी की एम्स के मुखिया डॉ.रणदीप गुलेरिया ने भरपूर सराहना की।
कहा,पिछली मुलाकात के बाद स्थिति में बड़ा बदलाव आया।
बाकी शहर भी इसी रणनीति के तहत चले।
धन्वंतरी रथ आशीर्वाद समान। pic.twitter.com/ktOV3yhmL1
— Janak Dave (@dave_janak) July 17, 2020
Record 949 new cases in Gujarat, 17 deaths
Gujarat recorded the highest single-day spike of 949 coronavirus cases on Friday, taking the tally to 46,516, the state health department said.
Surat district alone accounted for 234 new cases.
Seventeen persons suffering from the viral infection died across the state since Thursday evening, taking the death toll to 2,108, it said in a statement.
770 persons recovered and were discharged from hospitals, taking the number of recovered patients in the state to 32,944.
351 patients recovered in Surat district alone, followed by 165 in Ahmedabad and 87 in Vadodara.
Out of 949 new cases, 234 were reported from Surat district alone, including 177 cases from the Surat city.
Ahmedabad district was in the second spot with 184 new cases, including 166 in the city area. The district has reported 23,964 cases so far, the highest in Gujarat.
Other districts where a significant number of cases were reported in the last 24 hours were Vadodara (77), Rajkot (58), and Bharuch (47).
Surat’s case tally has gone up to 9,685 cases, second highest after Ahmedabad.
Of 17 deaths since Thursday evening, five each were reported from Ahmedabad and Surat cities, two each in Rajkot and Bhavnagar, and one each in Gandhinagar, Patan, and Vadodara.
There are 11,464 active patients, 71 of them on ventilators.
Out of around 3.74 lakh persons currently quarantined in the state, 3.72 lakh are home quarantined while 2,203 are kept in different facilities across the state.
Gujarat COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 46,516, new cases 949, deaths 2,108, discharged 32,944, active cases 11,464 and people tested so far 5,12,000.
હાલમાં અમદાવાદ શહેરમાં કુલ ૨૧૨ માઇક્રો કન્ટેઈન્મેન્ટ વિસ્તાર અમલમાં છે. જે પૈકી આજ રોજ નીચે જણાવેલ ૧૬ માઈક્રો કન્ટેઈન્મેન્ટ વિસ્તારને દુર તેમજ ૧૦ વિસ્તારોને માઈક્રો કન્ટેઈન્મેન્ટ વિસ્તાર તરીકે જાહેર કરવાનો નિર્ણય કરવામાં આવેલ છે. જેની વિગતવાર માહિતી નીચે મુજબ છે.#AmdavadAMC pic.twitter.com/IyjZKl1vHp
— Amdavad Municipal Corporation (@AmdavadAMC) July 17, 2020
184 new cases in Ahmedabad, five more dead
Ahmedabad recorded 184 new coronavirus cases since Thursday evening, taking the total in the district to 23,964, the state health department said.
With five COVID-19 patients dying in Ahmedabad city, the death toll in the district reached 1,537 on Friday. No death was reported from the rural areas of the district during the day.
Of the 184 new cases, 166 were from Ahmedabad city and 18 from other parts of the district, the department said in a statement.
A total of 165 patients were discharged upon recovery on Friday, it said, adding that with this the number of recovered patients has gone up to 18,672 so far.
Of the 165 recovered patients, 153 were from the city and 12 others from rural parts of the district, it said.
Out of the total 2,108 COVID-19 deaths reported in Gujarat so far, as many as 1,537 were from Ahmedabad district alone with 1,480 of them from the city.
Of the total 23,780 positive cases reported in Ahmedabad district so far, 22,928 were from the city while the rest 1,036 were from other parts of the district.
