Gujarat registers a huge jump in new COVID-19 Infection Saturday, 1,069 new cases registered – one and a half times the number of cases reported on Friday (654). Saturday’s surge is sharper than what was seen in mid-March in the early days of the second wave of the pandemic. The state last reported so many cases in early June 2021.
The rate of doubling of new cases is accelerating, with the doubling rate of new cases now almost doubling in two and a half days, compared to the doubling of new infections in the five days seen on 26 December.
With 23 more cases of omicron Found across Gujarat on Saturday, the state’s Omicron tally stands at 136.
Meanwhile, in light of the COVID-19 situation in the state, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel called a core committee meeting with cabinet ministers including Revenue Minister Rajendra Trivedi, Education Minister Jitu Vaghani, Home Minister Harsh Sanghvi and Health Minister Rushikesh Patel. As well as senior bureaucrats. According to a state government press release, CM Patel emphasized on increasing testing by erecting special domes to make testing operations more widespread in the state.
Ahmedabad saw a sharp jump in cases, registering 559 cases from the city’s jurisdiction, almost the same number of cases that were reported from the entire state on December 29.
With the 10,000-odd tests conducted in Ahmedabad’s city and rural areas, the daily test positivity rate in the district stood at 5.5 per cent till Saturday, while Ahmedabad’s weekly test positivity rate is rising each day, from 3.49 per cent for the week. 25 to 31 December.
Ahmedabad city also detected 11 more Covid-19 patients with the Omicron variant, of whom six were with international travel history, while five others had no travel history. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) solid waste management department also announced that it will impose a fine of Rs 1,000 on citizens not wearing masks in a special drive from 7 pm to 10 pm on Saturday. 80 teams have been deployed across the city for the campaign.
While the AMC added 11 more areas under micro containment zones, most of them in the areas of Jagatpur, Bodakdev, Ghatlodia and the north-west zone of Gurukul Road, taking the total micro containment zones in the city to 29, the civic body said. It also announced that private campuses and commercial units should check the vaccination status of visitors and others in the premises. The civic body has also warned that “stern action” will be taken against them if it comes to its notice that any business entity is negligent in carrying out such an exercise.
Of the 23 patients detected with the Omicron variant, 12 had an international travel history, while the remaining 11 had no travel history.
The city of Vadodara, where 61 Covid-19 cases were linked, also detected the Omicron variant in three patients, including a 23-year-old woman who had traveled to the US before the authorities received her genome sequencing report.
Dr Devesh Patel, VMC medical officer for health, said, “The 23-year-old woman had done her RT-PCR on December 24 as a mandatory procedure to be able to travel to the US. She tested positive on 24 December and later tested negative for Covid-19 on 26 December. He flew to America. Since his COVID-19 viral load fits the parameter for genome sequencing, his sample was sent on December 24. We received reports on Saturday that she was positive for the Omicron variant. ,
Patel said the source of the patient’s infection was unknown and a person who was his primary contact had tested negative for Covid-19.
Two others detected with the Omicron variant who came from the United Kingdom on November 20 – a 74-year-old man and a 65-year-old woman from Gokulnagar area – underwent a test on November 25.
“They were found positive in the RT-PCR report on December 26. They were asymptomatic and had no close contact, but are in strict isolation till date. His sample was sent for genome sequencing on the same day and on Saturday he tested positive for the Omicron variant. The source of infection is unknown,” Patel said.
VMC has registered a total of 23 omicron cases so far. On Saturday, the VMC also recorded a tally of 67 Covid-19 cases and 236 active cases.
In Surat city, 156 new cases of Kovid-19 were reported, including nine students from different schools. Five of these students have travel history abroad to Dubai, Canada and Thailand. In December, Surat Municipal Corporation had reported 90 Covid-19 cases among students in Surat city, most of them asymptomatic.
Four other fully vaccinated individuals were found with the Omicron variant in the city of Surat with a history of foreign travel from the United Arab Emirates, Ukraine and the UK.
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