Gujarat's COVID-19 tally rises to 74, two more discharged

Four new coronavirus cases were reported in Gujarat on Tuesday, taking the tally of infections to 74 even as the number of patients who have recovered from COVID-19 went up to six after two more persons were discharged, a senior health department officer said.

All the four new cases, one of them a woman, were of local transmission, taking the count of such infections to 38, while cases of patients with a history of international travel stayed at 32, Principal Secretary (Health) Jayanti Ravi said.

Four of the COVID-19 patients have inter-state travel history, she said.

As many as six COVID-19 patients have died in the state so far, she said, adding all of them had co-morbid conditions (other diseases).

With two 28-year-old men from Surat and Rajkot, as well as a 55-year-old man and a 32-year-old woman from Ahmedabad testing positive on Tuesday, the number of COVID-19 cases in the state went up to 74, Ravi said.

Amid the rising coronavirus cases, two more patients were on Tuesday discharged from hospitals in Ahmedabad and Vadodara, taking the total number of patients recovering from the infection to six, she said.

"We hope more patients are successfully treated and discharged," Ravi said.

With this, four patients from Ahmedabad, one each from Surat and from Vadodara have been discharged so far, Ravi told reporters.

Among the Ahmedabad residents who have been discharged, three were over 60 years of age, considered a vulnerable group, she said.

Of the six patients who have succumbed to the infection so far, three were from Ahmedabad, two from Bhavnagar and one from Surat, the senior bureaucrat said.

Out of 62 active cases, two COVID-19 patients are on ventilators, while the condition of others is stable, she said.

As may as 19,026 people have been placed under quarantinein Gujarat, including 18,078 in homes, 741 in government facilities and 207 in private centres, she said.

Ravi said the health department has surveyed around 6.15 crore people in the state, which includes on-site and telephonic surveys, as part of measures to contain the spread of the virus.

The health department converts areas where positive cases have been found into containment and buffer zones and undertake measures to prevent the outbreak of the virus as per central government's guidelines, she said.

"Areas where positive cases have been found are being treated as hotspot. Since the last two days, we have taken proactive measures for cluster containment in these areas," Ravi.