COVID-19: Ahmedabad district worst hit in Guj with 1,101 cases
Ahmedabad, Apr 19 () Ahmedabad has emerged as theworst-hit district in Gujarat in terms of coronavirusinfection with as many as 239 positive cases found on Sundayalone, taking the district tally to 1,101, officials said.
The death toll also went up to 32 on Sunday with sevenmore persons succumbing to the infection, officials said.
Of the total, as many as 1,077 cases were detected inAhmedabad city alone, making it one of the COVID-19 hotspotcities in the country.
The officials, however, attributed this sharp rise inpositive cases to the "proactive intensive surveillance andaggressive testing" conducted by health teams, mainly in thehotspot areas.
Out of the total 1,743 cases in Gujarat, Ahmedabadalone accounts for 1,101 cases, the highest in the state,followed by Surat and Vadodara at 242 and 180 cases, thehealth department said Sunday.
On last Sunday the district had reported 282 positivecases, which went up to 1,101 cases within a week.
"Proactive intensive surveillance and aggressivetesting approach have led to a rise in the number ofcoronavirus positive cases in Ahmedabad city limit area,"Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner Vijay Nehra said on Sunday.
He said that while the number of COVID-19 cases in thecity has surged over the past few days due to activesurveillance, most of the cases are being reported formhotspot areas.
The city also reported death of seven more COVID-19patients on Sunday, taking the death toll in the city to 32,the officials said.
Around 14,000 samples have been tested so far in theAhmedabad city, which has a total population of around 80lakh. Majority of the samples are being collected and thecases being detected being are from hotspot areas, he said.
"We have adopted a strategy of proactive intensivesurveillance and aggressive testing, which will help us incontrolling the infection in the coming days, and there is noneed to worry about the rising number of cases in the city,Nehra said.
"Our health teams are conducting health check-up incluster areas, screening people, and sending samples ofsuspected cases for testing. This helps us detect asymptomaticcases through active surveillance, and reduce chances ofspread of infection," he added.
Ahmedabad has so far tested 14,000 samples, with thecity recording an average of 2,490 tests per million, two-and-a-half times more than Delhi, which has conducted 1,103tests per million, officials said.
"Risk factor, surveillance strategy and testingapproach decide the number of cases. We are proactive andaggressive regarding surveillance and testing," Nehra said.Around 70 per cent of the positive cases reported in Ahmedabadcity are due to the "active surveillance" strategy adopted bythe AMC, he said, adding that other cities and states willhave to follow to contain the virus. KA PD BNMNP NP