Gandhinagar, Mar 30 (IANS): With the detection of 69 positive cases and 6 deaths in over a week, the Gujarat health department officials have intensified their efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus by going for the cluster containment strategy.
Gujarat saw third death in consecutive days. On Monday, one more death was recorded in Gujarat, the victim being a 45-year-old woman from Jesar block in Bhavnagar.
Informing the media on Monday, Jayanti Ravi, the principal secretary, Health and Family welfare Department said, "A 45-year-old female from Jesar in Bhavnagar died at around 12 midnight due to COVID-19. She was suffering from mental illness and sometime ago had a brain stroke. We also had 4 other positive cases in Bhavnagar registered till this morning."
According to the information provided by the secretary, an Ahmedabad man (38), with a travel history to the US, was also found coronavirus positive. All the Bhavnagar positive cases are males aged 50, 92, 55 and 65. All have been infected from local transmission.
With this Gujarat registers 6 deaths equalling Maharashtra, the highest in India. "The total positive cases in the state is 69, including the deaths. Out of the 63, the condition of 59 is stable while the other two are on ventilator. Two patients have been discharged after recovering from the disease with the condition of home quarantine," added Ravi.
Out of the 69 positive cases, 32 had a foreign travel history, two had inter-state travel and 33 are locally transmitted disease victims.
"Looking at the rising number of local transmission of the disease, we have now intensified our efforts by targeting specific clusters, where positive cases have been found. With the help of police we are cordoning off all such areas, especially where there is dense population. We will be also be going for the profilectic dosage to the insulated family members and others in close contacts with suspected persons," added Ravi.
The state has so far registered the highest number of positive cases in Ahmedabad (23), followed by 9 positive cases each in Rajkot, Vadodara and Gandhinagar. There were 8 positive cases in Surat, 6 in Bhavnagar, two in Gir and Somnath, and one each in Kutch, Mehsana and Porbandar.