Ahmedabd COVID-19 cases up by 280 to 5540; death toll 363

A total of 280 new COVID-19 cases were reported from hotspot Ahmedabad besides 20 more deaths on Saturday, taking the total case count to 5,540 in the district and fatalities to 363, a Health department official said.

Principal Secretary (Health) Jayanti Ravi said that the number of the discharged patients from various hospitals in Ahmedabad after recovery mounted by 106 to 1,107 in the last 24 hours.

A team of expert doctors from Delhi, led by AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria, visited various hospitals in the city on Saturday and guided local medical teams on how to bring down the high COVID-19 death rate, Ravi said.

"They found that the protocols being followed at the civil hospital and other hospitals in Ahmedabad were up to the mark," she said, adding that the team was satisfiedwith the state Health department's work.

As a measure to bring down the death rate, the doctors have appealed to symptomatic patients, and especially those with underlying health conditions, to avail medical treatment without delay, Ravi said.

Ahmedabad's COVID-19 mortality rate stands at 6.5 per cent, which is almost double than the national average of 3.3 per cent.

Dr Guleria, accompanied by Dr Manish Soneja of AIIMS' department of medicine, visited the civil hospital and met doctors and staff, who were attending to COVID-19 patients and offered them guidance, a Health department release said.