371 new cases in a day push Guj tally closer to 13,000

nSURAT: With 371 new cases reported in 24 hours, the number of people infected by Covid-19 in Gujarat inched close to 13,000 on Thursday. Twenty-four more deaths were reported in the state during the time span.

Ahmedabadreported233ofthe cases, Surat 34 and Vadodara 24, said Jayanti Ravi, principal secretary (health). “The tally of total positive case has reached 12,910 while the 773 fatalities have been reported in the state as of now. A total of 496,730 people have been kept in quarantine out of whom 485,051 are in home quarantine.”

She added, “The positive indicator for state is that the recovery rate is improving. So far, 5,488 people have been discharged. Condition of 6,519 affected people is stable and 52 are on ventilator.”

In most states, the recovery rates have shown dramatic improvement since the health ministry tweaked discharge guidelines, allowing patients with mild symptoms to homequarantine instead of seeking admission in Covid hospitals.

In a separate development, the state restarted government buses after a two-month suspension. Ashwani Kumar, secretary to the CM, said the government had announced lockdown 4.0 norms with special relaxations to restore life to normal . “As part of this, we have allowed state transport bus service to resume operations for the people from May 20. These buses will operate between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm in areas other than containment zones across the state,” he said.