WHO suggests Ahmedabad Covid-19 measures as case study: Gujarat govt

The World Health Organisation

(WHO) has appreciated the management of COVID-19 in Gujarat's Ahmedabad and suggested to take up various measures being implemented in the city as a case study for rest of India and other countries, the state government said on Saturday.

WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan has appreciated the COVID-19 management in Ahmedabad, it said.

The WHO has suggested to take up initiatives in Ahmedabad like 'Dhanvantari Rath', 104 fever helpline, Sanjivani Van; and active participation of private hospitals in control and treatment as a case study for other cities in India and abroad, it said.

Meanwhile, Gujarat has also steadily ramped up testing for COVID-19 diagnosis from 64,007 in April to 3,91,114 in July, which the government said is thrice the rate suggested by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

The patient recovery rate in Gujarat has improved to 73.09 per cent, "which is much higher than other states", while the COVID-19 mortality rate has declined to 3.97 per cent, an official release said.

The government under Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has been working on the formula of "testing, tracking and treatment" ever since the first COVID-19 case was detected in Gujarat on March 19, 2020, it said.

The number of tests for coronavirus has increased steadily. At the rate of 410.83 tests per day per million tests as on July 31, the government has achieved a rate that is nearly thrice the rate of 140 suggested by the ICMR, it said.

Till July 31, Gujarat had tested a total 7,64,777 samples including 3,91,114 in July, which is the highest in a month since the outbreak of the virus on March 19, the release said.

A total of 64,007 samples were tested in April, 1,47,923 in May, and 1,61,733 in June, it said.

"The patient recovery rate in Gujarat is much higher than other states at 73.09 per cent while the death rate has dropped to 3.97 per cent," the release said.

The CM has suggested house-to-house health check-up be made available in cities through municipal authorities to detect infected patients, it said.

As of July 31, Ahmedabad district contributed 26,517 COVID-19 cases in the total count of over 61,000 in Gujarat, as per health department.