Gujarat records 324 new coronavirus cases, 20 deaths

With 324 new coronavirus cases reported during the last 24 hours, the count in Gujarat reached 9,592 on Thursday, while 20 more patients died of the infection, said officials

During the same period, 20 patients succumbed to the infection, taking the toll to 586 in the state, said Principal Secretary, Health, Jayanti Ravi.

She said as many as 191 persons also recovered and given discharge from different hospitals in the state, taking the tally of such people to 3,753.

Ravi said the patient recovery rate in Gujarat has improved and now reached 38.43 per cent, which according to her, was a good sign tackling the health crisis.

 

Out of the total 324 new cases detected in the past 24 hours, 265 were from Ahmedabad district alone, she said.

Other districts where a significant number of new cases have been reported are Surat (16), Vadodara (13) and Mehsana (6).

Of the total 20 patients who succumbed to the infection during the last 24 hours, as many as 19 died in different hospitals in Ahmedabad and one in Surat, the official said.

Till now, Gujarat has conducted 1,24,709 tests, out of which 9,592 came positive, while 1,15,117 turned up negative.

Out of the total 9,592 cases registered in Gujarat so far, as many as 6,910 were reported in Ahmedabad district alone, followed by 983 in Surat and 605 in Vadodara.

A majority of the deaths were also reported in these three districts.

While 465 have died so far in Ahmedabad, 44 have died in Surat and 32 in Vadodara.

Refuting some media reports suggesting that lesser number of tests are being done to project a rosy picture about positive cases, Ravi said Gujarat's per million testing average is higher than many states and also above the national average.

"Its a misconception that we are conducting less number of tests. Gujarat has conducted 1,859 tests per million, much higher than national average of 1,343.

"In the test per million criterion, we are also better than Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala," said Ravi in a video message.

Gujarat COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 9592, new cases 324, deaths 586, discharged 3753, active cases 5253, people tested so far 1,24,709.