AMC declared 26 new areas as micro-containment zones. With over 250 new cases being reported from Surat, the district tally crossed 18,100. (Representational)

A day after the state tested as many as 67,000 samples, Gujarat reported a record high with over 1,200 fresh Covid-19 cases on Friday, taking the state tally to over 84,600 cases. On the other hand, 1,300 people were discharged. As many as 13 patients succumbed to the infection.

Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel told mediapersons that Gujarat, which was once “ranked second only to Maharashtra in infection spread,” now sees itself ranked in 11th or 12th spot across the country.”

Patel, who also holds the Health portfolio, inspected the new building under construction at the UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre, being built especially for treating heart issues in children. Addressing mediapersons, Patel said that “almost 98 per cent of the work for the new building has been completed and shall be inaugurated in the coming days.” The new building has been in the works since at least three years and “part of the new building was used for treating Covid-19 positive patients in April and continued to be in use for Covid-19 treatment for the next two-and-half months or so,” said Patel.

“It is in light of the work done in the past five months (to improve the Covid-19 situation) that it has been decided to start operations at the new building in the coming days. We will send an invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate this building,” he added.

Ahmedabad recorded 179 new cases on Friday. AMC declared 26 new areas as micro-containment zones. With over 250 new cases being reported from Surat, the district tally crossed 18,100.