3 min readMay 17, 2020 03:58 AM IST
First published on: May 17, 2020 at 03:58 AM IST
According to state government officials, when Ahmedabad city was under a rigorous lockdown last week with all services stopped — except for milk shops and drugstores — 33,500 super-spreaders were medically screened. (Representational)
Gujarat crossed 11,000 coronavirus cases with 348 new cases on Saturday. The state health department announced that 709 persons tested positive in Ahmedabad in the past week, owing to a targeted drive to detect positive cases among “super-spreaders”.
With 20 more Covid-19 casualties, the death toll in the state rose to 626 on Saturday. Close to 46 persons continue to be on ventilatory support. State-wide, Saturday saw the maximum samples taken this week in a 24-hour cycle, at 3,961 samples.
According to state government officials, when Ahmedabad city was under a rigorous lockdown last week with all services stopped — except for milk shops and drugstores — 33,500 super-spreaders were medically screened. Of those surveyed, 6,587 samples were taken, of whom 709 persons tested positive.
“This was a special drive that was undertaken in Ahmedabad to ensure containment of the spread of infection. To see to that data remains transparent and accurate, this was declared today (after completion of the drive),” said Principal Secretary, Health, Jayanti Ravi.
With the super-spreaders testing positive over a week’s span and the Saturday’s new cases, Ahmedabad now makes up more than 8,000 of the total 11,026 cases. The city added 973 cases to the state tally on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Ahmedabad City Police Commissioner Ashish Bhatia said, “Jetalpur wholesale market is already open, wholesale markets behind Drive-in TV Tower, Gurjari Bazar on Sabarmati riverfront and at Nikol area will open soon. This is to reduce the burden on a single wholesale market, otherwise it would lead to non-adherence to social distancing norms.” He further appealed to “especially minority communities” to cooperate with the police.
As of Saturday, 99 police personnel were active Covid-19 positive cases, most of them asymptomatic and undergoing treatment at various facilities, added Bhatia.
Vadodara reported 19 new cases taking the district tally to 672. A 71-year old hypertensive patient from Godhra in Panchmahals, who was suffering from kidney ailments and had died while undergoing treatment at GMERS Vadodara, tested positive on Saturday. Thus, the Panchmahal death toll rose to six and total cases are 70.
Surat reported another 34 cases taking the district total to 1,049. With two more deaths, the death toll here went up to 49.
Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, on Saturday, also took to ensuring that the state is fully prepared to deal with Covid-19 as well as other diseases. According to state government data, 13,61,762 persons received outpatient department (OPD) services in government facilities and 65,066 other patients got admitted for indoor patient treatment between May 1 and 14.
According to state government officials, when Ahmedabad city was under a rigorous lockdown last week with all services stopped — except for milk shops and drugstores — 33,500 super-spreaders were medically screened. (Representational)
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