Ahmedabad, May 14 () With 324 new coronaviruscases reported during the last 24 hours, the count in Gujaratreached 9,592 on Thursday, while 20 more patients died of theinfection, said officials
During the same period, 20 patients succumbed to theinfection, taking the toll to 586 in the state, said PrincipalSecretary, Health, Jayanti Ravi.
She said as many as 191 persons also recovered andgiven discharge from different hospitals in the state, takingthe tally of such people to 3,753.
Ravi said the patient recovery rate in Gujarat hasimproved and now reached 38.43 per cent, which according toher, was a good sign tackling the health crisis.
Out of the total 324 new cases detected in the past 24hours, 265 were from Ahmedabad district alone, she said.
Other districts where a significant number of newcases have been reported are Surat (16), Vadodara (13) andMehsana (6).
Of the total 20 patients who succumbed to theinfection during the last 24 hours, as many as 19 died indifferent hospitals in Ahmedabad and one in Surat, theofficial said.
Till now, Gujarat has conducted 1,24,709 tests, out ofwhich 9,592 came positive, while 1,15,117 turned up negative.
Out of the total 9,592 cases registered in Gujarat sofar, as many as 6,910 were reported in Ahmedabad districtalone, followed by 983 in Surat and 605 in Vadodara.
A majority of the deaths were also reported in thesethree districts.
While 465 have died so far in Ahmedabad, 44 have diedin Surat and 32 in Vadodara.
Refuting some media reports suggesting that lessernumber of tests are being done to project a rosy picture aboutpositive cases, Ravi said Gujarat's per million testingaverage is higher than many states and also above the nationalaverage.
"Its a misconception that we are conducting lessnumber of tests. Gujarat has conducted 1,859 tests permillion, much higher than national average of 1,343.
"In the test per million criterion, we are also betterthan Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal,Uttar Pradesh and Kerala," said Ravi in a video message.
Gujarat COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positivecases 9592, new cases 324, deaths 586, discharged 3753, activecases 5253, people tested so far 1,24,709. PJT PDRSY RSY