Gandhinagar, Jul 11 (IANS): Looking at the rising number of coronavirus patients in Surat, the Ahmedabad civic authorities and the State Transport services have decided to restrict the entry of visitors from the Diamond City and South Gujarat to Ahmedabad.

The Gujarat State Roads and Transport Corporation (GSRTC) has taken two decisions intending to put a curb on visitors to Ahmedabad city coming from South Gujarat, especially from Surat. The GSRTC has decided to stop the ST bus services for travel to Ahmedabad from Surat. Another decision is that all the buses coming from south Gujarat to other parts of the state will not be allowed entry in Ahmedabad and they will have to bypass the city.

Similarly, the Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Rajiv Kumar Gupta, who has been designated as special officer for the Covid-19 situation in Ahmedabad, took a decision for the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation on Thursday, to screen all the vehicles from south Gujarat entering Ahmedabad, at toll plazas on the Express Highway.

Following the decision, screening was started on Friday, where out of 574 persons from south Gujarat, wanting to enter Ahmedabad, 23 were found to be positive for coronavirus. The testing was carried out through the Rapid Antigen Testing (RAT) method at the special booths set up by the AMC officials at the toll plaza.

Out of the 23 positive cases, two drivers were immediately admitted in an Ahmedabad hospital and two, who were the residents of Ahmedabad were allowed to go home with the condition of 14 days quarantine. While the rest 19 were told to return to Surat, after sending their details to the Surat health authorities.

the Gujarat government, following the Unlock-1 phase, had decided to resume the state bus services, after 2 months gap. But as the health authorities achieved success in containing the virus spread in Ahmedabad, the situation deteriorated in the Diamond City over a fortnight ago.

Since the start of this month, Surat has been leading the daily coronavirus positive cases count and has emerged as the new hotspot, replacing Ahmedabad. Surat has registered almost 8,000 Corona positive cases and more than 310 have succumbed to the virus. Around 250 to 300 positive cases are being detected daily for over a week now. Apart from Surat, cities like Valsad, Bharuch and Tapi have also been registering high number of cases in the past couple of days.