With record 681 cases, Gujarat's COVID-19 tally nears 34,000

Ahmedabad, Jul 2 () Gujarat on Thursday recorded its highest one-day increase of 681 coronavirus cases, taking the case count to 33,999, the state health department said.

This is the sixth straight day when more than 600 new coronavirus patients have come to light in the state.

Nineteen patients succumbed to the infection since Wednesday evening, taking the death toll due to the pandemic in the state to 1,888, the health department said in its statement.

563 COVID-19 patients were discharged from different hospitals in the state, taking the total of recovered patients to 24,601. As per the health department, 161 patients recovered in Ahmedabad district alone, followed by 205 in Surat, 103 in Vadodara and 14 in Bharuch.

Of the 681 new cases which emerged in the past 24 hours, 211 cases were reported from Ahmedabad district alone, including 202 cases from the city. The total case count of Ahmedabad district has now reached 21,339.

Other districts where significant number of cases were reported in the last 24 hours are Surat (227), Vadodara (57) and Rajkot (26).

Surat recorded its highest one-day increase, which took the case tally to 5,257, second highest after Ahmedabad.

Vadodara is in the third spot with 2,381 cases.

Due to the sudden rise in the cases in Surat, a diamond industry hub, Principal Secretary (Health) Jayanti Ravi has been camping in the city for the last three days to find ways to contain the virus.

She announced that a 600-bed COVID-19 hospital will be set up at the Stemcell Institute building.

Of 19 patients who succumbed to the infection during the last 24 hours, seven died in hospitals in Ahmedabad, four in Surat, two in Vadodara and one each in Junagadh, Mehsana, Patan, Kheda, Valsad and Surendranagar districts.

There are 7,510 active cases in Gujarat now, 68 of them on ventilator while rest are stable.

2.48 lakh patients are home quarantined in the state while 3,060 are lodged in quarantine centres.

Gujarat COVID-19 figures are as follows: Total cases 33,999, new cases 681, total deaths 1,888, discharged 24,601, active cases 7,510 and people tested so far 3,88,065. PJT PD KRK KRK