277 new cases: Abad crosses 10k-mark

24 more deaths reported on Saturday, taking toll to 669; 6-month-old infant among those who succumbed to Covid-19

Western Ahmedabad reported 51 new cases of Covid-19 on Saturday, 14 of them from Navrangpura alone. The district reported 277 cases, taking the tally to 10,001 so far. A total of 24 deaths were reported during the day.

With this, the death toll has now reached 669.

Besides Navrangpura, Ranip reported 11 cases, Vasna 7, Paldi 4, Vejalpur 3, Vadaj, Thaltej and Jodhpur 2 each, Chandkheda, Sabarmati, Naranpura, Bodakdev, Gota and Chandlodia reported one cases each. Among those who tested positive are two resident doctors of Civil Hospital, a former standing committee chairman as well as current corporator of India Colony ward Yashwant Yogi

A six-month-old male child from Bapunagar was among those who succumbed to the infection. Ten of those who died did not have comorbidities.

As many as 206 patients were discharged from hospitals here, taking the number to 3,864.

There are currently 5,468 active cases in the district, which is worst affected by the pandemic in Gujarat, health officials said.

Meanwhile, ACS Rajiv Gupta stated in a release that testing has gone up since May 8. Citing weekly figures, he said approximately 7,500 tests on an average were done in a week between April 10 and May 7. However, the number went up to 9,410 tests between May 8 and May 14 and 11,320 between May 15 to 21.

He added that there has been a 77% increase in tests per million. Till May 5, there were 5,340 tests per million in the city, which reached 9.420 on May 23.

East Ahmedabad to relax for travel to airport

With domestic air travel set to resume from Monday, it has been decided to allow partial relaxation for cabs, taxis and cab aggregators for travelling to and from the airport. One driver and two passengers will be allowed in each such vehicle.

396 new cases in State

The number of coronavirus cases in Gujarat rose to 13,669 after 396 new cases were reported on Saturday, while death toll rose to 829 with 27 new deaths, the state health department said.

Nine districts reported fresh cases on Saturday. Vadodara and Surat reported 35 and 29 new cases, respectively, taking the total number of cases in these two districts to 806 and 1,285.

Out of 27 deaths, 24 were reported from Ahmedabad hospitals and three from Surat.

Death toll of coronavirus patients in Surat has risen to 60, the second highest in Gujarat. As many as 289 patients were discharged from state hospitals on Saturday, taking the total number of recovered patients to 6,169.

Districts other than Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara which have reported high number of cases are Gandhinagar (210), Bhavnagar (114), Banaskantha (99), Anand (90), Rajkot (87), Aravalli (98), Mehsana (99).

12 PCR cops in city positive

As many as 12 police personnel deputed at police control room in the city have tested positive for Covid-19, said DCP Vijay Patel. He added that they are at rank of constable and head constable.

According to him, they used to work in one shift. Currently there are three shifts at the control room.

Initially two personnel were found positive, followed by eight more. Two others tested positive during contact tracing. "Four personnel are admitted at Covid hotels while the rest have been kept in quarantine," said Patel.

Inputs by Asik Banerjee