AHMEDABAD: For Gujarat and Ahmedabad city, Thursday was the second consecutive day of a reduction in new Covid cases and active cases. While the daily tally reduced from 16,608 on Tuesday to 12,911 on Thursday for Gujarat, the figures were 5,303 and 4,405 for Ahmedabad, respectively.
Analysis of cases in Ahmedabad city shows that in the last three days, active cases reduced by 9,175. In comparison, the previous three days had added 8,539 active cases. However, mortality remained high – in three days, 26 deaths were recorded against deaths of 17 patients in previous three days.
On Thursday, the eight municipal corporation areas in the state accounted for 68% of the new cases – the lowest proportion in the past 30 days. While cases in the cities themselves have reduced – the average of the past seven days was 13,550 against 8,776 were recorded on Thursday – it also points to a spike in other districts. The test positivity rate on Wednesday for the state was 11% and for Ahmedabad was 18.6%.
Of the four major cities, Surat recorded the steepest drop in new cases – reducing to half from 1,512 on January 23 to 708 on Thursday, i.e. in four days. Active cases in Gujarat reduced from a peak of 1.35 lakh on Monday to 1.17 lakh on Thursday, a drop of 18,000-odd cases in three days.
Ahmedabad Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association figures show that of 311 total patients, 37 were in ICUs and 27 were on ventilators. At Civil Hospital, of 110 patients admitted, nine were on ventilators, 18 on BiPAP machines and 52 on oxygen. Experts said of the patients admitted in the city, about 25% require ventilators or ICU care. “Moderate to severe patients are likely to increase in the coming days,” said Dr Rakesh Joshi, Civil medical superintendent.
Meanwhile, Gujarat on Thursday administered 93,461 second doses, taking its total number to 4.5 crore. With this, the state has fully vaccinated 91.2% of its eligible population of 4.93 crore people.
