Photo Credit: Hanif Sindhi
The state recorded 654 new Covid cases and 16 Omicron infections, taking the state’s active cases tally to 2,962 and the total number of Omicron infections to 113. No Covid-related fatality was recorded on Friday, though 17 people are on ventilator support, as per the data released by the state health ministry.
The state, in a matter of five days, has added a total of 2,373 cases. The total number of patients discharged in five days was 352.
Gujarat had 548 cases, one death and 19 Omicron infections yesterday.
Ahmedabad remained the biggest contributor with 311 cases, as against yesterday’s 259 cases. Other major contributors include Surat (97), Vadodara (38), Anand (21), and Rajkot (21). Meanwhile in Anand, teachers and students of a school and two colleges tested positive for Covid-19. The district administration shut down the educational institutions following the detections.
On the Omicron front too, Ahmedabad had the most cases (6), followed by Surat (3) and Anand (3). Amreli, Banaskantha, Junagadh and Bharuch recorded one case each. Of the 16 new cases, nine had no travel history, indicating local transmission.
State says prepared for likely third wave
The state health minister Rushikesh Patel in a press conference on Thursday had said the Gujarat government has so far arranged a total of 1,10,000 beds to meet the possible Covid third wave. Of the designated beds, 15,900 are ICU beds, while 1,800 are beds with ventilator support. Besides this, the state is prepared to set up 300 to 1,500-bed Covid-designated hospitals in any city or district when the need arises, the health minister had added.
“We have a sufficient quantity of medicines needed for Covid-19,” the health minister told reporters.
The minister also said they have reserved 10-20 per cent of beds for children in Covid hospitals across the state.
Scenario Across India
On Friday, India reported 309 fresh Omicron infections, taking the total number of such cases in the country to 1,270, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.
The 1,270 cases have been detected across 23 states and Union Territories so far, and 374 people have recovered or moved. Maharashtra recorded the maximum number of 450 cases followed by Delhi at 320, Kerala 109 and Gujarat 113.
The daily rise in Covid-19 cases crossed the 16,000-mark after around 64 days taking India’s total number of Covid-19 cases to 3,48,38,804, while the active cases increased to 91,361, according to the data updated at 8 am.
India saw 16,764 new infections being reported in a day, while the number of deaths climbed to 4,81,080 with 220 daily fatalities, the data stated.
The active cases have increased to 91,361 comprising 0.26 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.36 per cent, the health ministry said.
