Ahmedabad, Apr 10 () The number of coronaviruscases in Gujarat rose to 378 after 116 new cases were reportedsince Thursday night, a senior health official said on Friday.
The increase in cases during 24 hours is the highestso far.
With two more deaths reported during this period, thedeath toll due to coronavirus reached 19, said PrincipalSecretary, Health, Jayanti Ravi.
Of 116 cases, 55 were reported in Ahmedabad and 37 inVadodara. The total number of cases found in Ahmedabad is now197.
Most of the new cases came from areas which havealready been declared as hotspots, such as Bapunagar, Shah-e-Alam, Dudheshwar, Kalupur, Manekchawk and Juhapura, Ravi said.
The spurt in the numbers was the result of aggressivetesting and therefore people need not panic, she added.
During the day, seven cases emerged from a singlecluster in Amod tehsil of Bharuch district.
Police probe revealed that four of them are religiouspreachers from Tamil Nadu amd attached to a sub-sect of theTablighi Jamaat.
During the day, new cases were also found in Surat(3), Rajkot (5), Bhavnagar (4), two each in Patan and Kutchwhile one case was reported in Gandhinagar, said Ravi.
Those who tested positive on Friday included a doctorin Ahmedabad who was engaged in collection of coronavirussamples, the official said.
Of 37 cases reported in Vadodara during the day, atleast 17 came from Nagarwada area of old Vadodara city, takingthe total number of cases in Vadodara to 59.
IAS officer Vinod Rao, primary education secretary,has been camping in Vadodara to oversee the screening andtesting operation there.
Cases were rising because of proactive testing andsurveying, he said.
"The entire Nagarwada area, with a population of5,000, has been already sealed and declared as red zone. Casesare rising because of our targeted efforts and mass screeningin that area," said Rao, in-charge secretary of Vadodara.
Out of total 378 cases reported so far, Ahmedabadrecorded the highest 197 cases, followed by Vadodara (59),Surat (27), Bhavnagar (22), Rajkot(18), 14 each in Gandhinagarand Patan, Bharuch (7), Kutch (4), Porbandar (3), two each inMehsana, Gir-Somnath, Chhotaudepur, and Anand and one each inPanchmahal, Jamnagar, Morbi, Sabarkantha and Dahod.
"We tested 1,519 samples since Thursday night andfound 116 samples positive. Till now, 7,718 persons have beentested in Gujarat, out of whom 378 came out positive forvirus," said Ravi.
As a precautionary measure, health department willconduct 100 tests in the districts where no case has surfacedyet, she told reporters.
With two more deaths, the death toll due to the deadlyinfection in Gujarat has gone up to 19.
A 40-year-old man from Ahmedabad and an 81-year-oldman from Gandhinagar died on Friday.
While the Ahmedabad patient was suffering from akidney ailment and breathed his last at Ahmedabad civilhospital, the Gandhinagar resident, who contracted the virusfrom a close contact, died at Gandhinagar civil hospital.
In good news, seven persons recovered and weredischarged , taking the number of those who recovered to 33,Ravi said.
Of 19 persons who have succumbed to coronavirus in thestate so far, seven died in Ahmedabad, followed by Surat (4),two each in Vadodara and Bhavnagar, and one each inGandhinagar, Panchmahal, Patan and Jamnagar.
Three of them had returned from a foreign country,three had travelled to another state and 13 had come incontact with other local patients, said Ravi. PJT PDKRK KRK