A day after Indian government allowed standalone shops, including those selling non-essentials to open with 50 per cent staff, Gujarat on Sunday extended the complete lockdown in four major cities of Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot and Vadodara. The Gujarat government maintained the decision has been taken after holding consultations with major trade associations.
“The doubling rate which 8 to 10 days back was 4 days has been brought to 8 days now but we aim and strive taking this to 11 to 12 days. So, in this case, if shops open the infection rate will increase. A meeting with trade associations was held where they themselves expressed consent to not open shops. Thus, it has been decided that shops selling only essential items will remain open till May 3, maintaining the status quo of last 30-35 days,” said Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner Vijay Nehra.
The government said that they have already received written consent from major trade associations. Nehra also said that since last week, the number of daily cases have either been declining or remained static. With the efforts of the AMC, he said, the case doubling rate has been increased to 8 days from 3-4 days.
Ahmedabad, the coronavirus hotspot in Gujarat, had 1,712 active cases till Sunday, 30 of which were critical and on ventilator support. As many as 182 new cases were added Saturday evening while 193 patients were discharged. “At present, the recovery rate is more than 10%. A few days back this was similar to the death rate but now the discharge rate is double the death rate,” Nehra added.
Meanwhile, after a private hotel on the Sarkhej-Gandhinagar highway in Ahmedabad started offering Covid care services this week, another hotel on the Iscon-Ambli road agreed to take Covid-19 patients and offer services at a charge of Rs 3,500 per night.
