Gujarat’s COVID-19 curve is rising sharply with a steep increase in the number of cases. On Sunday, 367 new cases were reported, in the highest single-day increase, and 10 persons died. The total number of cases in the State went up to 1,743 and the total number of deaths to 63.
On Saturday, the State recorded 277 cases and 12 deaths.
So far, 105 patients have recovered, including 12 on Sunday.
14 on ventilator
As on Sunday, 14 patients are on ventilator support and in a critical condition, and 1,561 patients are being treated at various hospitals. The State has so far tested 29,104 samples.
According to the Health Department, testing has increased substantially, covering a large part of the State. There are 127 clusters that have been declared containment zones, with a total of 1,79,778 houses and a total population of 8,50,672.
Also read: Coronavirus | Gujarat sees steepest single day jump in cases
The pandemic has spread to 25 districts, but the worst affected is Ahmedabad, with 1,101 cases and 32 deaths. On Sunday, Ahmedabad reported 239 new cases and 7 deaths. Another big cluster is Surat, where eight persons have died among 242 cases recorded so far.
Officials in the Health Department and the civic bodies and medical experts believe that the State has entered the stage of community transmission, with nearly 75% of the total cases being asymptomatic.
“With a higher percentage of asymptomatic cases, community transmission is occurring, which will make containment efforts more difficult and challenging because you will never know the scale of the epidemic,” an infectious disease expert told The Hindu.
According to him, the curve will continue to rise in the next week as aggressive testing has just started. “Ideally, there should be more than 5,000 tests a day, whereas the average as on Sunday is around 2,500-3,000,” he said.
