Coronavirus: Gujarat Sees Big Spike, Goes Past 1700 Positive Cases

Ahmedabad: Gujarat has emerged as a major hotspot in the country with 1743 Coronavirus positive cases. On Sunday alone, the western state reported 367 new cases of the deadly virus.

Gujarat has now become the third worst affected state in the country after Maharashtra with 3648 cases and Delhi with 1893 cases. 10 deaths were reported on Sunday from Gujarat taking the overall death toll in the state to 63.

Gujarat has ramped up testing in recent days and the surge in coronavirus positive cases is attributed to this fact. Senior government officials pointed out that compared to the national average of 269 tests per million, Gujarat is conducting 447.8 tests per million, pointing out that this accounts for more positive cases being identified faster.

The spike on Sunday is ascribed to the receipt of test results from government and private laboratories late on Saturday.

A senior health department official of the Gujarat state government was quoted in the media as having stated that of the 29,104 people tested so far 27,361 cases turned out to be negative. 18,450 people are in quarantine at present.

Ahmedabad has emerged as the COVID-19 hotspot in Gujarat, accounting for most of the cases recorded in the state. Ahmedabad has so far reported as many as 405 cases and the district-wise figures are likely to be updated by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare later in the day.

The Vijay Rupani government in Gujarat has decided to permit factories in municipal corporation and town council areas in the highly industrialised state to operate from Monday. The industrial units will arrange accommodation facilities for their workers within the premises of the factory and will also ensure that their employees do not have to travel, in line with the state and central government guidelines, media reports stated.