16 deaths in city, all from East Ahmedabad

With 247 new coronavirus cases detected in last 24 hours, the count in Ahmedabad district of Gujarat rose to 11,344 on Thursday, said officials. During the same period, 16 Covid-19 patients died in different hospitals in Ahmedabad city, taking the toll in the district to 780, said a statement by the state health department. All the 16 deaths were from eastern part of Ahmedabad. The city's tally for Covid-19 has reached 10,924 while the death toll is 773.

Also, 381 more persons were discharged from hospitals in Ahmedabad following recovery from the infection, it said.

Out of the total 960 COVID-19 deaths registered in Gujarat so far, as many as 780 were from Ahmedabad district alone.

Amraiwadi reported 27 new cases, the highest among areas inthe city.

Dariyapur reported 3 deaths, Danilimda 2, Bapunagar 2, Asarwa 2, Saraspur, Indrapuri, Shahpur, Isanpur, Vatva, Behrampura and Odhav reported one each.

On Thursday, AMC clarified on its decision to not turn VS Hospital into a Covid hospital. It stated that that the hospital's medical and para-medical staff has been deputed for field work related to Covid, as well as at other Covid hospitals and care centres. As a result, the hospital does not have adequate staff. The professorial staff that worked at the teaching hospital at VS has been shifted to SVP Hospital, so VS does not have even that staff. It further argued that the hospital is in need of renovation, hence effective control of infection would be difficult.

It further argued that its OPD is open for non-Covid patients, most of whom are poor. If the hospital is converted into Covid hospital, it would not be able to treat non-Covid patients. Also, since SVP is already a Covid hospital, it is not a good idea to have two Covid hospitals on the same campus.

367 new cases in Guj

The number of coronavirus cases in Gujarat rose to 15,572 on Thursday after 367 new infections were detected during the last 24 hours, the state Health Department said.

Surat reported 44 cases, Vadodara 33, Sabarkantha 8 and Kutch and Rajkot seven each.

During the same period, 22 patients also succumbed to the infection, taking the toll to 960 in the state, the department said in a statement. Besides Ahmedabad, three died in Vadodara and one each in Kutch, Patan and Surendranagar districts. Also, as many as 454 persons recovered from the disease and discharged from different hospitals in the state, taking the number of such people to 8,001, it said.