76 new COVID-19 cases found in Gujarat; death toll up to 17

With a record 76 new cases, the highest so far in a single day, the total number of coronavirus infections in Gujarat shot up to 262 on Thursday, while the death toll rose to 17 with the addition of one more fatality, said officials.

All the new cases were recorded during the last 24 hours, they said.

One person also died during this period, taking the death toll 17, said Principal Secretary, Health, Jayanti Ravi.

Of the total 1,975 samples tested during the last 24 hours, 76 came positive for the virus, she added.

Out of these 76 new cases, as many as 58 were from Ahmedabad alone, followed by Patan (7), Vadodara (4),Surat (2), Rajkot (2) and one case each from Dahod, Anand and Chhotaudepur districts.

She asked common citizens not to panic over the spike in confirmed cases, saying the numbers are increasing due to a policy of aggressive testing undertaken by the government.

The sudden spike in new cases, particularly in Ahmedabad, was due to an intensive surveillance being carried out in areas which have been declared as coronavirus 'hotspots' in Ahmedabad and other major cities of Gujarat, said Ravi.

She opined that cases will rise in the days to come as more cases related to the Nizamuddin gathering would emerge in the surveillance and testing exercise being carried out in the walled city area and other hotspots in Ahmedabad.

"We had a fair idea from the beginning that cases would rise due to the Tablighi Jamaat-related cases which were detected earlier.

"We knew that once we start intensive surveillance and testing in the Nizamuddin incident related hotspots, more cases would emerge.

"We want cases to come up, so that we can eliminate the infection completely" Ravi told reporters in Gandhinagar.

Till now, 12 cases related to the Nizamuddin event held last month, a key source of the COVID-19 spread, have been reported in Gujarat, all in Ahmedabad, officials had said earlier.

The major hotspots in Ahmedabad, from where most of the cases were detected on Thursday, are Danilimada, Astodia and Ghodasar.

Surat city has to hotspots - Rander and Adajan Patiya.

Out of the 262 cases reported so far, the highest, - 142 - were in Ahmedabad, followed by Surat (24), Vadodara (22), Bhavnagar (18), Gandhinagar (13), Rajkot (13), Patan (12), Porbandar (3), two each in Kutch, Mehsana, Gir Somnath, Chhotaudepur and Anand.

One case each has been recorded in Panchmahal, Jamnagar, Morbi, Sabarkantha and Dahod.

A 48-year-old man succumbed to coronavirus in Ahmedabad during the last 24 hours, taking the death toll in Gujarat to 17, she said.

Till now, 26 persons have also recovered from the deadly infection and discharged from hosptials. This included a 27-year-old man who was discharged from Ahmedabad civil hospital on Wednesday.