The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday asked the State administration to explore options to contain the severe outbreak of Covid-19 in the State.
The division bench of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Bhargav Karia expressed concerns on the sharp increase in the new cases in Ahmedabad and overall in the State of Gujarat.
The High Court suggested the Advocate General for Gujarat State Kamal Trivedi to explore options of lockdown for 3-4 days and impose strict restrictions on the public gatherings including marriage ceremonies, functions, funerals and political and religious gatherings.
“You may please convey our message to the decision makers that urgent serious steps need to be taken to check this (situation) otherwise it is going to go out of hands and then it would be a situation where again a lockdown would be required,” the Chief Justice observed.
It also suggested the State Government to explore lockdown for 3-4 days or curfew, and restrict number of people coming to work to reduce the possibilities of spread of the infections.
“Something needs to be done by the government throughout the state so that things are taken under control,” the Court said in its Suo-moto cognisance of the Covid-19 situation here.
Reacting to the Gujarat High Court’s observations, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani informed that State’s core committee on Covid-19 will take a decision, that will take care of people’s convenience and contain the spread of the virus. Rupani is in Surat to oversee the Covid-19 preparedness amidst sharp surge in new cases and deaths in the city.
Already four cities of Gujarat Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot and Vadodara are under daily night curfew between 9 pm to 6 am. Public transport buses in Ahmedabad and Surat cities are also under suspension till further orders.
The State has witnessed sharp surge in the new Covid-19 cases at 3,160 new cases and 15 deaths reported on April 5, with Ahmedabad city getting highest 773 new cases in 24 hours. Surat reported 603 new cases, followed by Rajkot city at 283 andd Vadodara at 216.
Total active cases in the State are at 16,252, with total deaths so far at 4581. State has reported cumulative total 3,21,598 cases of which 3,00,765 have been cured or discharged.