Gandhinagar, Jul 24 (IANS): Gujarat, which has been recording over 1,000 Covid cases per day this week, on Thursday saw its highest tally so far, at 1,078, taking its tally to 52,563 while the death toll rose to 2,257 as 28 more succumbed to the virus.

With an average of over 860 cases daily, the state has registered 19,920 cases in July so far.

Surat, which has shot past Ahmedabad as the state's new corona hotspot, again accounted for nearly a fourth of Thursday's cases, at 256, while Ahmedabad saw 210 cases and Vadodara, at the third spot, had 82.

Rajkot reported 59 new cases, Narmada 40, Junagadh 43, Bhavnagar 39, Jamnagar 34, Gandhinagar, Dahod and Surendranagar 31 each, Bharuch 27, Kutch 24, Mehsana and Patan 23 each, Navsari 18, Banaskantha 14, Kheda 13, Panchmahals 12, Gir-Somnath 11, Anand and Valsad nine each, Botad and Mahisagar seven each, Chhota Udepur and Tapi five each, Morbi and Sabarkantha four each, Amreli and Aravalli three each and Porbandar one.

Exactly half of Thursday's 28 deaths occurred in Surat, while five died in Ahmedabad, two each in Vadodara, Patan and Kutch and one each in Bhavnagar, Botad and Morbi.

Of the total 2,257 deaths so far, more than half - 1,571 - were in Ahmedabad, followed by 327 in Surat, 64 in Vadodara, 37 in Gandhinagar, 24 in Aravalli, 23 in Patan, 19 in Bhavnagar, 17 in Rajkot, 16 each in Panchmahals and Banaskantha, 15 in Mehsana, 14 in Kheda, 13 in Anand and 11 in Bharuch.

Till now, health authorities have conducted 5,92,123 RT-PCR tests. Meanwhile, a total of 718 patients were discharged on Thursday, taking the total to 37,958.

The state has 12,348 active cases, out of which 89 critical patients are on ventilator.

There are 4,31,823 people quarantined - 4,30,014 at home and 1,809 in government facilities.