A day after Gujarat government allowed standalone shops, including those selling non-essentials to open with 50 per cent staff, Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner (AMC) Vijay Nehra Sunday said shops in the city will not reopen at least until May 3. He said the decision has been taken after holding consultations with major trade associations. "The doubling rate which 8 to 10 days back was 4 days has been brought to 8 days now but we aim and strive taking this to 11 to 12 days. So, in this case, if shops open the infection rate will increase. A meeting with trade associations was held last night and today morning where they themselves expressed consent to not open shops. Thus, it has been decided that shops selling only essential items will remain open till May 3, maintaining the status quo of last 30-35 days," the civic chief said, adding that they have already received written consent from major trade associations. Nehra also said that since the last week, the number of daily cases have either been declining or remained static. With the efforts of the AMC, he said, the case doubling rate has been increase to 8 days from 3-4 days. He said Ahmedabad city has 1,712 active cases so far and 30 of them are critical and on ventilator. And 182 new cases were added Saturday evening while a total of 193 discharged. "At present the recovery rate is more than 10%. A few days back this was similar to the death rate but now the discharge rate is double the death rate," he added. Meanwhile, after a private hotel on the the Sarkhej-Gandhinagar highway in Ahmedabad started offering covid care services this week, another hotel on Iscon-Ambli road has agreed to take COVID-19 patients and offer services at a charge of Rs 3,500 per night. AMC has signed a MoU with Hotel Double Tree by Hilton today that has agreed to offer 175 rooms as a covid care centre at an affordable rate of Rs 3,500, AMC Commissioner said.
