More on Covid-19

GANDHINAGAR: With increased testing in the state's declared COVID-19 hotspots, Gujarat reported 19 more positive cases on Tuesday. The state now has 165 total positive cases and 12 deaths. More positive cases in the state are expected by the evening."Out of the total 19 positive cases found on Tuesday, 13 are from Ahmedabad (eight male and five female) and three from Patan (all males) and one each in Bhavnagar Anand and Sabarkantha. Out of today's positive cases, 13 positive cases are directly or indirectly related to Delhi's Nizamuddin Markaz," informed Jayanti Ravi , Gujarat Health Secretary on Tuesday.Alarmed by the spread of coronavirus in particular areas, where the Tablighi Jamaat members have visited or are residing, the Gujarat government has chalked out an action plan, and accordingly, 24 areas in five major cities -- Bhavnagar, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot have been declared as the Hotspots."A total of 74 teams have been formed in these 24 areas of the five major cities, where a total of 328 workers will be carrying out the house to house surveillance, covering more than 1.45 lakh people," informed Jayanti Ravi.According to the secretary, 24 teams comprising of 120 workers will be surveying eight areas in Ahmedabad where 14,075 people are residing. Similarly 30 teams comprising 140 workers will be surveying five areas in Bhavnagar where more than 90,000 people will be covered. Bhavnagar areas are very densly packed.Ten teams comprising 22 workers will be surveying in the Rander and Sachin areas of Surat covering a population of 31,000 and in Rajkot seven teams comprising 28 workers will be surveying a population of over 3,000. In Vadodara, 18 workers from three teams will be visiting house to house to cover two areas where more than 5,000 people reside."According to the Central government, Gujarat has only one hotspot that is Ahmedabad. But even before the Central government issued guidelines on Hotspots, we already had proactively identified certain Hotspots in five major cities where more than 10 positive cases have been found," said Ravi."All these 24 areas are cordoned where a strict and total lockdown will be implemented with the help of local municipal corporation authorities and the police. No person will be allowed entry or exit from these areas. Maximum testing will be carried out in these areas," added Ravi."Since yesterday evening we have taken more than 300 samples in 24 hours for the testing and by evening a majority of those results is expected. We don't want to take any chances," added Ravi.The maximum samples were collected in Bhavnagar 39, Ahmedabad 29 and Gandhinagar 23.With this addition, Gujarat now has a total of 165 positive cases, including 12 deaths. The maximum number of COVID-19 positive cases is in Ahmedabad with 77, followed by Surat 19, Bhavnagar 14, Gandhinagar 13, Vadodara 12, Rajkot 10, Patan five, Porbandar three, Kutch Mehsana and Gir-Somnath with two each and Panchmahal, Chhota Udepur, Jamnagar, Morbi, Anand and Sabarkatha 1 each."Out of the total positive cases, the condition of 126 patient is stable, 23 have been discharged and condition of four is critical and they are on ventilators," added Ravi."Out of the total positive cases, 33 of them have an international travel history, 32 interstate travel and hundred are locally infected. We have carried out a total of 3,040 tests till now, where 2,835 were found negative, 165 positive and results of 40 are pending," added Ravi."We once again request everybody in the state to implement the lockdown literally in everybody's interest. Even if a small number of persons will violate, we all will have to suffer," added Ravi.