Gujarat reports 241 COVID-19 cases, 17 deaths

The total number of coronavirus cases in Gujarat jumped to 241 on Thursday with 55 new patients being found in the state, an official said.

The death toll also went up to 17 with one more person succumbing to the viral disease.

Out of the 55 new cases, 50 were reported from Ahmedabad, two from Surat and one case each from Dahod, Anand and Chhotaudepur district.

The sudden spike in the number of new cases, particularly in Ahmedabad, was due to the intensive surveillance being carried out in areas declared as 'hotspots' here and other major cities of Gujarat, principal secretary (health) Jayanti Ravi said.

She said numbers are likely to rise in days to come as more cases related to the religious congregation of Tablighi Jamaat at Nizamuddin in Delhi may emerge in the ongoing intensive 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 event 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," Ravi told reporters in Gandhinagar.

"We want more cases to be detected, so that we can eliminate the infection completely," she said.

Till now, 11 cases related to the Nizamuddin event have been reported from Gujarat, all in Ahmedabad.

The major hotspots in Ahmedabad where maximum number of cases have been found on Thursday are Danilimada, Astodia and Ghodasar areas.

Surat city has two main hotspots- Rander and Adajan Patiya.

Out of the 241 cases reported so far, the highest 133 have been reported in Ahmedabad, followed by Surat (25), Vadodara (18), Bhavnagar (18), Gandhinagar (13), Rajkot (11), Patan- five, Porbandar-three, 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 coronavirus patient died in Ahmedabad on Wednesday night, taking the toll in Gujarat to 17, the official said.

The man, who died at SVP Hospital here, was also suffering from co-morbid conditions, including high blood pressure, she said.

Till now, 26 people have been discharged after recovery.