Gandhinagar, Jul 4 (IANS): The number of COVID-19 cases in Gujarat crossed the 35,000 mark as the state reported its highest single-day spike of 712 new infections on Saturday, health officials said.
The fresh cases pushed the virus count to 35,398 in the state, it added.
In the last one week, more than 600 COVID-19 cases were reported in Gujarat, each day with a new record. With an average of around 655 cases daily, the state has registered 5,240 positive cases in the last seven days.
Surat also saw its highest daily spike on Saturday, with 253 new infections.
Among Saturday's 712, the hotspot Ahmedabad's count of 172 was way behind Surat. Surat is now emerging as the new COVID-19 hotspot in the state and Ahmedabad's positive cases are on the declining trend.
Ahmedabad was followed by Vadodara 61, Rajkot 47, Bhavnagar 20, Valsad 19, Gandhinagar and Bharuch with 15 each, Navsari 11, Junagadh, Banaskantha and Kheda with 10 each, Jamnagar and Mahesana with eight each, Aravalli and Kutch with seven each, Patan, Sabarkantha and Surendranagar with six each, Anand and Gir-Somnath with four each, Morbi three, Panchmahals, Mahisagar, Botad and Amreli with two each and Dahod and Devbhumi Dwarka with one positive cases each.
The number of COVID-19 fatalities which had crossed 30, has now been hovering around 20. Just like past couple of days where 18 to 20 fatalities were reported daily, Saturday reported 21 casualties where Ahmedabad had the highest with nine, while four patients each died from Surat and Rajkot and one patient each died from Mahesana, Aravalli, Kutch and Valsad.
With this, the death toll of the state has jumped over to 1,927. The total number ofCOVID-19 deaths in Ahmedabad has reached 1,478. 177 have died in Surat, 53 in Vadodara, 31 in Gandhinagar, 18 in Aravalli, 17 in Patan, 16 in Panchmahals, 13 deaths each in Bhavnagar, Anand and Mahesana, 12 in Rajkot, 11 in Banaskantha and 10 each have died in Bharuch and Kheda.
The death toll rate of Ahmedabad which used to be around 81 per cent of the total toll is gradually getting lower. On Saturday, it has come down a bit to 76.69 per cent. Gujarat has one of the highest mortality rate for coronavirus in the country, 5.44 per cent.
On Saturday, the health authorities carried out highest tests, 8,481 RT-PCR. Till now the health authorities have conducted 4,04,354 RT-PCR tests in Gujarat. Till now, total 25,414 patients have been discharged in the state.
Out of a total RT-PCR tests carried out in the state, 3,68,956 have been found negative.
There are 8,057 active cases, out of which the condition of 7,989 is stable, whereas 68 critical patients are still on ventilator.
Presently, over 2.6 lakh people are quarantined in the state, where 2,57,522 are under home quarantined and 3,092 in government facilities.