With 20 fresh deaths in past 24 hours, the death toll in Gujarat breached the 500-mark. Meanwhile, 347 fresh cases were recorded, taking the tally to 8,542 and the death toll to 513. Gujarat became second state after Maharashtra to record 500-plus deaths of Covid-19 patients. The death rate in state is skyrocketing with 58% of total deaths recorded from May 1 to 11, reveals analysis.
Till April 30, Gujarat had 214 deaths whereas in past 11 days, 299 deaths were added. The state added 100 deaths in four days. Out of 299 deaths, Ahmedabad district accounted for 251 or 84% of mortality.
State health department has stopped providing analysis of age and co-morbidity of the deceased patients since May 5. Out of the 347 patients, Ahmedabad accounted for 268 or 77% of the patients.
Ahmedabad district on Monday crossed 6,000-mark with cases touching 6,086 and recorded total 400 deaths. Majority of the cases have been recorded from Ahmedabad city, which is identified as one of the national hotspots of the viral infection. After Mumbai, Ahmedabad district has recorded the maximum cases of Covid-19 in India.
Jayanti Ravi, principal secretary (health & family welfare), said that the state is stressing on increasing immunity of the Covid-19 positive patients, especially in Ahmedabad. “We have got about 4,000 kg of Ayurvedic medicines including Shamsham Vati, Dhashamul Kavath and Ayush 64 capsules in a special aircraft from Uttarakhand,” said Ravi, adding that the medicines would be able to create about 350,000 doses for the patients.
Ravi said that they are also providing herbal concoction to the state-run hospitals to boost their immunity.
Total cases reach 70,756
India’s Covid-19 count went past 70,000 on Monday, just two days after crossing the 60,000 milestone, as Maharashtra continued to report above 1,000 new cases for the sixth day while the pandemic spread alarmingly in Tamil Nadu, which added its highest single-day number of cases at 798. Overall, however, the count of new cases across the country was down from Sunday’s record high (of 4,308) to 3,607. India now has 70,793, according to the latest numbers reported by states. Maharashtra has nearly a third of all cases. Just four states - Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Delhi - have 66% of India’s Covid case load.
The count of fresh cases remained high in Gujarat (347) and Delhi (310), but both these states have reported higher numbers in past few days. In what would be a relief for health authorities, Monday’s death toll came down to 82 after remaining at 113 for two consecutive days. Maharashtra recorded the highest 36 deaths, taking its total toll to 868, with Mumbai alone accounting for 528.
There was a slight decline in new cases in Maharashtra, which recorded 1,230 on Monday as opposed to 1,276 (along with 667 past cases declared positive) the previous day. However, the rapid surge of the pandemic in Tamil Nadu, where the total Covid count has raced to 8,002, only 540 less than second placed Gujarat, will come as a worry.
