Covid-19: Gujarat records 364 cases, 29 deaths in 24 hours

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat on Wednesday added 364 positive cases and 29 deaths in 24 hours ending 5 pm. The state crossed 9,000 total positive cases mark with 9,268 cumulative cases. Death toll for the state is 566. The last 1,000 cases were recorded in past three days.
Jayanti Ravi, principal secretary (health & family welfare), said that 316 Covid-19 positive patients are discharged in the same time, taking the total to 3562.“State's recovery rate has improved to 38.4% with discharge on Wednesday,” she said, claiming that the condition of Covid-19 is ‘under control.’
In an announcement on the treatment protocol, Ravi said that the state government has approved use of Tocilizumab injections and have placed an order for the same. The drug is immunosuppressive and is used for treatment of conditions such as arthritis.
“As part of WHO’s solidarity trial, we have got stock of Remdesivir, a patented drug, for clinical trial in Gujarat, which is likely to start from tomorrow. The drug is considered to be effective for Covid-19 treatment. Likewise, Interferon, another drug for treatment, has also been received for trial,” said the principal secretary.
On Wednesday, Amreli recorded its first positive case. Now all 33 districts of Gujarat have recorded at least one Covid-19 positive patient. In May, three districts of Gujarat have recorded their first Covid-19 positive cases. In all cases, persons with travel history to other parts of India or Gujarat were found to be responsible, said state health department officials.
With new cases, Ahmedabad's total tally has now reached to 6645 and 446 deaths. It is followed by Surat that has 967 cases and 43 deaths and Vadodara which has 592 cases and 32 deaths. After these three districts, Gandhinagar (142) and Bhavnagar (100) have also recorded 100 or more cases.
51% dip in testing for the state in one week
On Wednesday, Gujarat recorded 2760 tests in 24 hours, which is the least in past seven days. Compared to May 7, the state has recorded dip of 51%. On May 7, Gujarat had recorded 5362 tests, which dipped to May 9 at 4263 and got reduced to less than 3,000 tests a day on May 11 and 13. The state health department officials have mentioned repeatedly that the state can carry out about 3,000 RT-PCR tests a day.