More on Covid-19

AHMEDABAD: With the death of one more coronavirus positive patient on Monday, the toll in Gujarat rose to six even as the number of infections increased to 70 with the addition of seven new positive cases, a senior health department official said.A 45-year-old woman died at a hospital in Bhavnagar in Gujarat late Sunday night, taking the total number of fatalities in the state to six, Principal Secretary (Health), Jayanti Ravi said.As many as four COVID-19 patients have been discharged in the state so far, two each in Ahmedabad and Surat, she said.The woman who died on Monday faced mental issues and had suffered stroke around two weeks ago, Ravi said.Ahmedabad has so far reported three deaths, followed by two in Bhavnagar and one in Surat, she said.At the same time, the state reported seven new coronavirus positive cases, five in Bhavnagar and one each in Ahmedabad and Surat, including the woman who died in Bhavnagar, Ravi said.Of these, six are cases of local transmission, and one, reported in Ahmedabad, is of a 38-year-old man who recently returned from the USA, she said.With this, the total number of cases in Ahmedabad rose to 23, followed by Rajkot, Vadodara, Surat and Gandhinagar at 9 each, Bhavnagar at 6, Gir Somnath two, and Kutch, Mehsana and Porbandar at one each.Ravi said two patients are on ventilator, while the condition of 58 others is stable.Of 70 COVID-19 cases, 34 related to local transmission, while 32 have foreign travel history. Four cases are of inter-state travel history, she said.The state government also launched a helpline number -- 1100 -- for counselling of people who are under quarantine, Ravi said.The state government has so far tested 1,321 samples in laboratories, out of which 1,244 tested negative, 70 came positive and reports of 7 others are pending, she said.Sharing details of persons who have been quarantined in the state, the senior health department officer said the number stands at 19,617.Of these, 18,701 are in home quarantine, 744 in government facilities, and 172 in private centres, she said.The government has also conducted house-to-house survey of 5.90 crore people, of which around 87,274 were found to have travel history in recent times, she said.Of these, 1,382 had travelled abroad, she said.She informed that 4,300 isolation bends are available in government hospitals and 635 in private ones. More beds are being added for coronavirus positive patients in these hospitals.