The number of COVID-19 cases
reached 1,002 in Gujarat's Ahmedabad district, with the city limits accounting for 978, the surge of numbers being attributed by civic commissioner Vijay Nehra on Sunday to "pro-active intensive surveillance and aggressive testing".
The number of COVID-19 cases within Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation is now just behind bigger urban areas like Delhi and Mumbai, and it includes 29 deaths.
Around 14,000 samples have been tested in Ahmedabad municipal area, which has a population of around 80 lakh, with a majority of samples being collected and cases detected being from hotspot areas, Nehra said.
This, he said, amounted to an average of 2,490 tests per million, two-and-a-half times more than Delhi which has conducted 1,103 tests per million.
"We have adopted a strategy of pro-active intensive surveillance and aggressive testing, which will help us control the disease in coming times. There is no need to worry about rising number of cases in the city," he said.
"Our health teams are conducting check-ups in cluster areas, screening people, and sending samples of suspected cases for testing. This helps us to detect asymptomatic cases through active surveillance, and reduce chances of spread of infection," Nehra added.
"The risk factor, surveillance strategy and testing approach decide the number of cases. We are proactive and aggressive regarding surveillance and testing. As much as 70 per cent of 978 cases reported in the city are due to this "active surveillance" strategy adopted by the AMC," he said.
Nehra said other cities will have to follow this strategy to contain the virus, adding that only 203 out of 978 cases have been detected through passive surveillance, a method in which a person approaches a doctor for illness and then tests positive for the virus.
Nehra claimed the number of cases will reduce in the coming days as 90 per cent of samples in hotspot and curfew areas have been collected.
"Out of 139 COVID-19 cases reported on Sunday, 120 are from hotspot areas. We have collected samples of nearly all suspected cases from hotspot areas, and will also collect samples from curfew areas of suspected cases after identifying them through screening and testing. We will see decrease in cases from these areas in coming times," he said.
Nehra said the AMC will also begin plasma therapy starting Sunday on an experimental basis.
In this, plasma is collected from a willing donor, who has recovered from the coronavirus infection and has developed antibodies, and infused into a COVID-19 patient, in a bid to increase his or her ability to combat the virus.
"We had decided to start plasma therapy, and had sent a proposal regarding this to the ICMR. Due to the intervention of our chief minister, who talked to the Union health minister regarding the same, the proposal was approved," he said.
"Yesterday, plasma was collected and we will begin the therapy from today," he said.
Meanwhile, the city's first woman COVID-19 patient who was admitted on March 17, was discharged from SVP Hospital on Sunday.
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