Covid-19: This Gujarat Model Has Gone Awry
Heera Nagar locality in Surat, Gujarat. Photo Credit: Prakash Dakhara
The sero-surveillance of containment zones conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in April found that Ahmedabad had the highest prevalence rate of 55%, according to a report in the Economic Times. It is just another indicator that Gujarat is facing a huge challenge to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
The situation has warranted a visit to the state by members of the national task force on COVID-19, which included Randeep Guleria, the director of AIIMS, Balram Bhargava, director-general of ICMR, and Vinod Paul from the Niti Aayog to better assess the state’s preparedness to tackle the pandemic.
About 50 per cent of the cases in Gujarat is from Ahmedabad, followed by Surat, with 20 per cent of the cases.
However, Surat (285) tops the list of cities with the most number of new cases, followed by Ahmedabad (212), followed by Vadodara (79).
While Ahmedabad had 142 cases April 9, Bhavnagar reached its first 100 cases on May 13. Vadodara reached 113 cases on April 14, Surat reached 102 cases on April 17, Gandhinagar reached 119 on May 9, while Rajkot reached 104 on May 28, and have been witnessing rapid increases in the number of cases since. However, Surat (285) tops the list of cities with the most number of new cases, followed by Ahmedabad (212), followed by Vadodara (79).
The government has been taking some flak recently with the opposition accusing it of under-reporting deaths in the States. Nitin Patel, the health minister and deputy chief minister said that the mortality rate had dropped quite substantially, from 6.5 per cent in mid June to 1.5 per cent, but the rate on July 20 was 4.38 per cent.
Surat reported 1,866 cases in the July 13 to July 19 week as compared to 1,860 a week earlier, while the number of tests went up to 11,483 from the previous week of July 6 to July 12.
Despite the dip in Surat’s growth trajectory in the chart for the week July 6-12, the trend shows a sharp growth in the number of cases in the city over the past several weeks.
While there are continuing signs of the spread of cases in the urban districts in the state, the government has been criticised for being economical with the true numbers. Gujarat, of course, is not the only state with such concerns, but it is important for the well-being of the people of the state that facts be considered sacrosanct.
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