Coronavirus in Gujarat: Ahmedabad reports 50 new cases and five deaths
Even as the number of COVID-19 cases in Ahmedabad in Gujarat rose by 50 to 1,284 on Tuesday, civic chief Vijay Nehra has hoped that the infection will be brought under control by May. He appealed to people to strictly follow the lockdown guidelines to defeat the coronavirus.
On Tuesday, Ahmedabad reported five more deaths due to COVID-19 disease, taking the overall number of fatalities so far to 42.
"As we move forward, confidence of our teams is slowly increasing as we are able to detect the maximum number of cases. We are collecting the maximum number of samples for testing and are thus achieving a high testing rate. We have put in place everything required for the treatment of COVID-19 cases," Nehra said.
We can now say that if we get people's support, we shall be able to bring the virus almost under total control by the month of May, he said in Facebook Live.
"To achieve this, people will have to follow lockdown rules completely till May 3," he said, adding that the synergy of discipline and organisational strength will help in defeating the virus.
The sharp rise in COVID-19 cases in Ahmedabad over the past few days was attributed by the municipal corporation to the active surveillance by health teams.
"More than 15,000 samples have been tested-- 1,939 through passive surveillance and 13,145 via active surveillance--in the city so far and 5,500 people are currently under quarantine," Nehra said.
He said the civic-run SVP Hospital in the city has successfully conducted Cesarean section (CS) operation on a 30-year-old pregnant coronavirus patient, which he said was the first such case in Gujarat and seventh in the country.
He said the newborn will be tested for coronavirus after 24 hours. Listing various measures to help people, Nehra said the civic body and the state Health department are taking steps to augment the number of beds in hospitals in Ahmedabad.
The number of beds in SVP Hospital has been increased from 500 to 1,000 starting Tuesday, so as to lessen the burden on the district civil hospital, he said.
He said 51 patients have been discharged so far from hospitals in Ahmedabad after their recovery from the COVID-19 disease.
"One of them who was discharged on Tuesday was suffering from several comorbidities like diabetes and hypertension, and was on a ventilator support for ten days," Nehra said.
He said the civic body has signed an MoU with a 5-star hotel to convert it into a COVID care centre for asymptomatic patients at the charges lower than the market rates, which will be fixed by the civic body.