Guj proactively fighting to contain coronavirus outbreak: CM

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay

Rupani on Friday said his government was working proactively to contain the spread of the coronavirus with aggressive testing, and claimed members of the Tablighi Jamaat who returned from a gathering in Delhi last month had caused the COVID-19 numbers to shoot up.

The state has 2,815 COVID-19 cases, and 127 people have died of the infection so far.

"There has been a rise in cases, especially in Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara. Eighty per cent of the cases are from these three cities, with Ahmedabad accounting for 60 per cent.The higher number of cases in Gujarat is due to aggressive testing," Rupani said.

 

He said his government had quarantined 6,000 people who had come from abroad in March.

"But the cases increased after Tablighi Jamaat members met in Delhi last month and then spread the virus to Gujarat and rest of the country," he added.

The Centre on Friday said its teams would visit hotpsots like Ahmedabad and Surat in the state to monitor efforts to control the outbreak.

"The state has proactively made arrangements to fight COVID-19. In the initial stage, we had 9,500 beds but now we are working to increase that capacity to 25,000. We do not have any problems as far as ventilators, N-95 masks and medicines are concerned as all these things items are manufactured in Gujarat. We bought around 200 ventilators from a Rajkot manufacturer called Jyoti CNC," Rupani said.

He added that 80 per cent of the patients are asymptomatic, while the death rate due to the infection is three per cent.

"People are asking why so many people have died in Gujarat. That is because those who died had comorbidities like high blood pressure, diabetes, and one was even suffering from cancer," Rupani said.

Earlier in the day, Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner Vijay Nehra had said that the number of COVID-19 patients in the city may reach eight lakh by the end of May if the current four-day period of doubling of cases continued.