(G.N.S) Dt. 24
Ahmedabad
Gujarat state records 217 positive cases, taking the state’s tally to 2624. The new cases were recorded from Ahmedabad (151), Surat (41), Vadodara (7), Bharuch (5), Anand (3), Botad, Kheda (2 each) and Aravalli, Bhavnagar, Gandhinagar, Panchmahal, Valsad and Dangs (1 each).
Gujarat on Thursday recorded death of nine patients, taking the Covid-19 death toll to 112. The deaths were recorded from Ahmedabad (7), Surat and Vadodara (1 each).
Jayanti Ravi, principal secretary (health & family welfare), said that they are in no number competition with any state or country and thus there is no reason to slow down tests. The state government faced criticism on Thursday for capping the number of maximum daily tests at 3000. “It doesn’t matter whether Gujarat is second, third or fourth… We are employing transparent and intensive methods to identify new cases from hotspots. We started preparations for COVID-19 from beginning of March,” she said.
“Out of total, 2500 would be for the new cases whereas 500 would be for the 2200-plus positive patients in state hospitals. With rapid antibody testing (RAT), the number would be higher,” she added. As on Thursday evening, Gujarat has carried out 42,384 tests to find COVID-19 positive cases.
Ravi also mentioned that 150 of the ventilators from a Rajkot-based firm have been received on Thursday. As on Thursday evening, Gujarat has 28 patients on ventilator and are considered critical, said state health department officials.
With the new cases, Ahmedabad district recorded 1652 total positive cases, which is 63% of Gujarat’s total number. The district also records 62% of total deaths of the state.
Out of the seven deaths recorded in Ahmedabad, two were women and five were men. Out of seven, one woman was cardiac patient whereas four others had hypertension and one had diabetes.
The principal secretary said that out of total cases, more than 80% are from the hotspots declared by the state government. When questioned about the row over the videos posted by the patients from the hospitals about the issues they face, Ravi said that they have come to know about the cases and the state is addressing them.
