Gujarat sees biggest single-day spike in coronavirus cases, deaths; tally crosses 6,000-mark

Parth Shastri | TNN | May 5, 2020, 22:18 IST

A civic worker sprays disinfectant on a fellow worker in Ahmedabad (AP)

AHMEDABAD: For the first time, Gujarat breached the 400 Covid-19 positive cases a day mark on Tuesday with 441 patients added in a matter of 24 hours.
It was also the highest death toll in a single day with record 49 Covid-19 patients losing their lives. The state’s total Covid-19 count is now at 6,245 whereas death toll stands at 368.
Ahmedabad is the worst affected with 349 or 79% of the total cases reported on Tuesday and 39 or 79% of total deaths. Since the beginning of May, Ahmedabad has added 1,399 cases and 124 deaths in just five days – adding approximately 11 positive cases and one death every hour. The daily cases have increased by 40% in this duration.
In a major move to fight the Covid-19 spread, IAS shuffle took place on Tuesday with Pankaj Kumar, ACS (revenue), made overall in-charge of the Covid-19-related action by the Health & Family Welfare Department.
Vijay Nehra, the Ahmedabad municipal commissioner, got quarantined for 14 days after coming in contact with a Covid-19 positive person. Mukesh Kumar, CEO of Gujarat Maritime Board, was given his charge. Likewise, Rajiv Kumar Gupta, ACS (forest & environment), was appointed in AMC for the Covid-19-related activities. A high-level meeting, including chief secretary Anil Mukim, was convened in Ahmedabad to review the situation in the city.
In 24 hours ending 5pm on Tuesday, a total of 186 persons got discharged, taking the tally to 1,381. Jayanti Ravi, principal secretary (health & family welfare), claimed that the state’s recovery rate has improved by 133%. “Ten days ago, it was 9.48%. Now it is 22%,” she said.
On Tuesday, Junagadh district recorded two positive cases. Now, out of 33 districts of Gujarat, 32 have recorded at least one Covid-19 positive patient. Amreli is the only district that has not recorded any case so far. Devbhoomi Dwarka recorded its maiden case on Monday.
The state again recorded slight dip in overall testing with 4984 tests conducted in 24 hours, taking the number of total tests to 89,632. On Friday and Saturday, Gujarat had conducted more than 5,000 tests with pooling method.