Ahmedabad: 23 die in single day due to COVID-19; toll 208

A record 23 people succumbed to COVID-19 disease in hotspot Ahmedabad in Gujarat in a single day on Sunday, taking the overall number of the fatalities in the district to 208, officials said.

The biggest city in Gujarat also reported 274 new coronavirus positive cases, which now accounts for 3,817 of the total 5,428 cases in the state.

"Of the 23 deceased, 19 patients were suffering from comorbidities," stated an official release.

Meanwhile, the number of the recovered patients in the district rose to 533 with 71 people discharged from hospitals, it said.

Struggling to check the spread of coronavirus cases, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has brought one more ward--Maninagar--in south under the containment zones, taking their number to ten.

Of the ten, the central region in Ahmedabad has five wards under the containment zone, including Jamalpur, Khadia, Dariyapur, Shahpur and Asarwa while three containment zones are located in south region including Behrampura, Danilimda and Maninagar wards.

"One ward each in north and east zones of Gomtipur and Saraspur has also been placed under the containment zone," said Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner Vijay Nehra.

He said Jamalpur is the worst-affected area, accounting for 33 per cent of the total COVID-19 deaths in the city as well as reporting the highest number of cases.

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has also appointed ten senior officers as nodal officers for as many containment zones to ensure strict enforcement of the third phase of the lockdown beginning on Monday.

"They will coordinate with local politicians, religious heads, and police to ensure this," Nehra said.