Vadodara reported 22 new cases, which included seven mediapersons. (Representational Photo)
Coronavirus cases in Gujarat crossed 4,000-mark on Wednesday, with 317 new cases reported – highest in a single day – which included seven journalists and five state information department officials.
Deaths in the state touched 200 with 17 more succumbing to the disease. Rajkot reported its first death in a 60-year-old woman with hypertension who was admitted in hospital on April 20. The deceased’s husband and two sons, too, are positive, taking the district total to 58.
Nine died in Ahmedabad, including a 20-year-old woman and a 65-year-old man who had a thyroid condition. Three others who died are two men aged 54 and 64 years and a 45-year-old woman who had no co-morbidities. Two other men at SVP Hospital aged 80 and 61 years had co-morbid condition of hypertension. A 70-year-old woman at Civil Hospital had asthma along with hypertension and another 60-year-old woman had lung complications along with mental illness.
In Ahmedabad, 234 tested positive, including five employees of the state information department’s Ahmedabad unit. Of them, two were kept in home Cases cross 4,000 in Gujarat with 17 more deaths quarantine and three were at the care centre in Samras Hostel.
A senior officer from the Ahmedabad unit of information department said that some of them had gone to civil hospital on an official assignment recently. One of them experienced symptoms like fever and body ache following which he got his tests done which turned out to be positive on Tuesday. Subsequently, seven employees at the office got themselves tested, of which four turned out to be positive.
Anand’s Khambhat area reported 12 new cases, taking the district tally to 77, of which three were men aged 83, 75 and 72 years.
Vadodara reported 22 new cases, which included seven mediapersons. Of these, two are employees of digital news organisation who were travelling to Vadodara to report on the COVID-19 pandemic. A 24-year-old reporter and a 54-year-old cameraperson of the organisation tested positive along with their cab driver.
The three were asymptomatic and took part in the free test for mediapersons being conducted at the High Speed Rail Training Institute (HSRTI) on Tuesday when they tested positive. The city administration has quarantined them at the HSRTI facility.
Four other local mediapersons also tested positive but were asymptomatic and have been home quarantined. Dr Devesh Patel, health officer of VMC, said, “A total of 24 contacts of the mediapersons who tested positive have been home quarantined. The three persons are from outside Vadodara and although they have been included in the total in Vadodara as of now, they will be migrated to the COVID-19 tally of their home state and city.”
Vadodara also saw four deaths in a single day with two women aged 66 and 75 years with hypertension succumbing to COVID-19 at GMERS Gotri and two other men, aged 54 and 65 years, also with co-morbidities dying later in the day. This takes Vadodara’s death toll to 19.
Surat reported three deaths, including a 22-year-old man who had liver disease, and two others — a 68-year-old man and a 60-year-old woman — with hypertension. With 31 new cases, the count went up to 601 in the district.
Bharuch reported two new cases on Tuesday, taking the district total to 27. Mahisagar saw five new cases, including a 39-year-old employee of a hotel where eight staff members of Balasinor COVID-19 hospital are staying, and two male cousins aged 30 and 32 years. Another 60-year-old man from West Bengal who was begging at Lunawada and was shifted to a shelter home, too, tested positive, taking the district tally to 15.
In Botad, a 57-year-old man who is the neighbour of an earlier positive case tested positive, taking the district total to 20. Gandhinagar tally went up to 38 cases with two new cases.
Announcing two policy decisions taken by the health department, Principal Health Secretary Jayanti Ravi said, “If a positive patient comes to a (private) clinic or hospital and if the medical procedure is being done on the patient while healthworkers are wearing PPEs, there shall be no shutdown of the facility. According to ICMR guidelines, if a person wishes to be tested for COVID-19 from a private laboratory before a medical procedure, they are free to do so.”
“We have seen as many as 28 deaths in a single day due to swine flu in the past. We have learnt from Gujarat’s battle with Ebola, H1N1, SARS and we must imbibe the spirit of learning to live with COVID-19… focus on staying safe and following basic practices,” added Ravi, while reminding that everyone has to download the Aarogya Setu app.