25% Guj cases from 2 zones in capital
› Even at the cost of a rise in figures, we started aggressive testing and surveillance. VIJAY NEHRA , Ahmedabad municipal commissioner
JAIPUR: One in every four cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Gujarat has so far been reported from two zones of the Ahmedabad municipal corporation, with a population of 320,000, government data shows.
Till Thursday, 4,395 cases were reported, out of which 24.50% cases have been reported from the central and southern zones of Ahmedabad. Of the total 1,713 cases reported from these two zones, most have been from Khadia, Dariapur, Shahpur, Jamalpur, Danilimdi and Behrampur, according to officials.
Ahmedabad municipal commissioner Vijay Nehra said the wards from central and southern zones come under the Walled City of the district and have high population density. “On a scale never seen before in India, we sealed the old Walled City in a single day and surveyed more than 100,000 people. We adopted a strategy of cluster containment early on and were able to moderate the growth of virus in hot spots such as central Ahmedabad. Even at the cost of a rise in figures, we started aggressive testing and surveillance,” he said.
An official said the municipal corporation took some time to react after the first case was reported on March 30. “Also, the lockdown norms were not strictly enforced in these wards,” the local government official said.
Health secretary Jayanthi Ravi on Thursday said the recovery rate considerably improved over the past few days. “We expect to see a lot of improvement in the next week or so,” she said.
Following the guidelines of the Union home ministry, the state government has also started the process of identifying people of Gujarat stuck in other states. “Responsibility has been assigned to 16 officers of Gujarat to make arrangements to bring back stranded persons. The process will be carried out in phases,” said Ashwani Kumar, secretary to the chief minister.
In Surat, a 50-year-old Covid-19 patient, who allegedly left the Covid-19 ward of a civil hospital two days back, was found dead on a bench outside the medical facility on Thursday morning, police said. Preliminary investigations and CCTV footage of the hospital indicated that the man did not go outside the hospital campus, located in Khatodara area, during the last two days, an official from Khatodara police station said. He was admitted on April 21 and a few days later, his wife also tested positive and was admitted to the same hospital.
“We don’t know why he ran away, where he went and how he died. We are carrying out an investigation,” deputy commissioner of police Vidhi Chaudhari said.