Gujarat COVID-19 cases rise by 56 to 572 with 26 deaths

(Eds: Clubbing GJ-Virus series)

Ahmedabad, Apr 13 () Gujarat on Monday reported 56new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of the affectedpeople in the state to 572, a state Health department officialsaid.

At the same time, the number of the people succumbingto the coronavirus infection rose to 26 with two more deathsbeing reported from Ahmedabad and Vadodara, a Healthdepartment official said.

Ahmedabad now accounts for the highest number offatalities in the state at 13 followed by Surat (4).

Of the 56 new cases, 38 people were found positive forcoronavirus in Ahmedabad, followed by Vadodara (6), Surat (5),Bharuch (3), Banaskantha (2), and Anand and Panchmahal oneeach, said Principal Secretary (Health) Jayanti Ravi.

Among the 38 people finding positive for coronavirusin Ahmedabad, two cases were reported from new areas of Odhavand Nava Naroda, while other cases are detected in the knownhotspots, she said.

With this, the total number of COVID-19 patients inAhmedabad now stands at 320, Ravi said.

The two deceased included a 75-year-old patient whowas admitted in SVP Hospital in Ahmedabad and a 27-year-oldman from Vadodara, she said.

The patient from Ahmedabad was suffering frrom heartand lung ailments while the man from Vadodara had contracteddengue, Ravi said.

As on Monday, the number of the patients recoveredfrom COVID-19 rose by ten to 54.

The fresh recoveries are reported from Patan (4),Rajkot (3), and one each from Gandhinagar, Bhavnagar and GirSomnath.

A total of 8 of the 492 "active" COVID-19 patients arecurrently on ventilators whereas the condition of 484 othersis stable, Ravi said.

"As per our strategy to cover districts which havereported no coronavirus case so far, we tested 660 samplesfrom 14 such districts, out of which only two samples turnedpositive, both in Banaskantha district," she told reporters.

Those who tested positive in Banaskantha included a5-year-old boy, she said, adding that family members of thedeceased toddler returned from Surat on March 24 and have beenplaced under quarantine.

Ravi said that a total of 2,436 samples were testedfor COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. The number of the samplestested so far in the state stood at 14,251, while results of709 are awaited.

"In terms of the tests per million, Gujarat now standsthird after Kerala and Maharashtra. While the average numberof 15,583 samples were tested in the last 24 hours in thecountry, Gujarat tested 2,536 samples, which is 16 per cent(of the national average)," she said.

Meanwhile, out of the 26 deaths reported so far fromGujarat, only two are less than 40 years of age---a 14-month-old boy and a 27-year-old man.

As many as 21 of the total deceased had someunderlying health conditions, she said, adding that only threedeceased above the age of 60 years had no co-morbidities.

While Ahmedabad has reported 320 cases, Surat hasreported 33, Rajkot 18, Vadodara 106, Gandhinagar 15,Bhavnagar 23, Kutch 4, Mehsana, Panchmahal, Banaskantha andGir Somnath 2 each, Porbandar and Chhota Udepur 3 each, Patan14, Bharuch 11, Anand 9, and Jamnagar, Morbi, Sabarkantha andDahod at one each. KA PD GKNSK NSK