Daily Covid cases spike for second straight day in Gujarat

AHMEDABAD: Riding on the wedding season, the daily Covid cases again recorded a spike of 25% in Ahmedabad, with the daily positive cases rising from 2,654 on Tuesday to 3,309 on Wednesday.

The daily cases went above 3,000 in the city after two days. The city also recorded the deaths of 10 patients — the highest in the past eight days.

With a drop of over 1,900 active cases with 5,243 discharges, the active cases in Ahmedabad slid below 25,000 at 24,808 after January 17, or 16 days. For Gujarat, with 15,177 discharges against 8,934 new cases, the active cases went below 70,000 at 69,187 the lowest in a fortnight. Of the total, 246 patients in Gujarat were on ventilators.

Gujarat's daily rise in Covid cases was 7%, from 8,338 on Tuesday to 8,934 on Wednesday.

The state's daily Covid mortality recorded a slight dip from 38 to 34. An analysis of the cases indicated that of the total, the cities accounted for 66% or two-thirds of the cases on the second consecutive day. Moreover, 62% of the deaths were recorded from the cities. Ahmedabad accounted for about one-third of the cases and the deaths.

"While the majority of the Covid patients are recovering after experiencing milder symptoms, please don't take it lightly," said a city-based critical care specialist. "Over the past few days, the number of patients on ventilators and in ICUs has not gone down in the city. A week ago, 37 patients were in ICU wards and 27 on ventilators." The specialist added: "On Wednesday, 43 patients were in ICU wards and 20 on ventilators."

The specialist went on to say: "The overall number of patients has reduced from 311 to 241 in the same period."

Gujarat in 24 hours vaccinated 52,130 persons for the first dose and 1.8 lakh for the second. In all, 5.13 crore have been administered the first and 4.58 crore the second dose of Covid vaccine.