Coronavirus | With a jump in COVID-19 cases, Gujarat locks down Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot

New cases came from Gandhinagar, Surat, Kutch and Ahmedabad

March 21, 2020 09:09 pm | Updated 10:31 pm IST - AHMEDABAD

Members of the transgender community distribute masks to commuters to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic, in Surat, Gujarat on March 20, 2020.

Members of the transgender community distribute masks to commuters to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic, in Surat, Gujarat on March 20, 2020.

With cases of the COVID-19 infection soaring in Gujarat, the government announced broad measures on Saturday practically locking down four main cities — Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot — till March 25 to slow the pace of its spread.

Also read | Interactive map of confirmed coronavirus cases in India

The measures announced late in the night mandate all business and commercial establishments, except grocery stores, pharmacies, fruit and vegetable outlets and dairy parlours, to remain shut till March 25.

These measures are intended to force people stay indoors.

Agencies other than essential public service departments will be shut. Government offices and agencies will work with just 50% staff on a rotation basis.

Seven more positive cases were reported from the State on Saturday taking the number to 14. All except one of the new cases reported from Gandhinagar, Surat, Kutch and Ahmedabad had recently returned from abroad.

Also read | ‘Heat is not a deterrent for transmission’: Your COVID-19 queries answered

“One person in Surat who is infected has no recent history of travel, while the others recently returned from abroad,” said Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, who is also Health Minister.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani visited the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital and declared that the new 1,200-bed civil hospital would exclusively cater to the treatment of those infected with the virus and would serve as the nodal infection control centre.

He also deputed Cabinet Ministers to various cities like Rajkot, Vadodara and Surat to oversee the Heath department and the administration’s initiatives to contain the spread.

The State government has also decided not to operate public transport services and municipal transport services on Sunday as part of the Centre’s public curfew initiative.

Top News Today

Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.