Gujarat's COVID-19 tally rises to 650; death toll up to 28

(Eds: Updates with details, quotes)

Ahmedabad, Apr 14 () The number of coronaviruscases in Gujarat rose to 650 after 78 fresh infections werereported on Tuesday, while the death toll increased to 28 withthe addition of two more fatalities, a health departmentofficial said.

The count of cases in Ahmedabad rose to 373 after 53new infections were reported on Tuesday, while in Vadodara,the tally went up to 113 with the addition of six patients,the official said.

Two coronavirus patients died in Gujarat, one each inBhavnagar and Vadodara, taking the toll in the state to 28.

A 50-year-old coronavirus positive man with diabetesdied in Bhavnagar, while a 58-year-old man with no underlyingcondition succumbed in Vadodara, Principal Secretary (Health)Jayanti Ravi said.

Ahmedabad district has reported the highest number ofdeaths at 13.

Among other districts that reported fresh cases areBhavnagar (3), Surat (9), Chhota Udepur (2), Anand (1),Mehsana (2), Dahod (1) and Gandhinagar (1).

The state also reported recovery of five more COVID-19patients, taking the number of such people to 59, she said,adding among them two each were from Bhavnagar and Ahmedabad,and one from Surat.

As many as eight out of 563 active patients were onventilator currently, while the health condition of 555 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 turnedout to be positive, both in Banaskantha district," she toldreporters.

Among them is a five-year-old boy, whose familymembers had returned from Surat on March 24 and are now underquarantine, the senior bureaucrat said.

In the last 24 hours, 1,733 samples were tested forCOVID-19.

A total 15,984 samples have been tested so far in thestate, with 650 coming out positive and no result awaited.

"In terms of test per million, Gujarat now standsthird after Kerala and Maharashtra," she said.

She said out of the 28 deaths reported from the stateso far, only two were less than 40 years of age. One of themwas a 14-month-old boy, while the other was aged 27.

As many as 22 out of the deceased patients had someco-morbid conditions, she said, adding four others, all agedabove 60, had no pre-existing illnesses.

District-wise, Ahmedabad has reported 373 cases, Surat42, Rajkot 18, Vadodara 113, Gandhinagar 16, Bhavnagar 26,Kutch and Mehsana four each, Panchmahal, Banaskantha, Dahodand Gir Somnath two each, Chhota Udepur five, Porbandar three,Patan 14, Bharuch 11, Anand 10, and Jamnagar, Morbi, andSabarkantha at one each. KA PD NSKRSY RSY