The Gujarat government on Saturday announced that a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR test report will be mandatory for those arriving from other states. Earlier, the government had made negative test report must only for those coming from neighbouring Maharashtra which has been worst hit by the pandemic.
“The coronavirus infection rate is increasing in many states of the country. It is also seen that prevalence of COVID-19 is high among those who have travel history,” the state health department said in a notification. In view of this, those entering Gujarat from other states must have undergone RT-PCR test in the previous 72 hours and carry a negative report, it said.
The order will come into force from April 1. In the last few days Gujarat has been witnessing a surge in cases of coronavirus with Ahmedabad and Surat being the worst affected.
The state on Saturday reported its highest single-day rise in new COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic with the addition of 2,276 infections, taking its tally to 2,98,596, the state health department said. With five more patients- two in Surat, and one each in Ahmedabad, Bharuch and Bhavnagar- succumbing to the viral infection in the last 24 hours, the overall toll in the state went up to 4,884, it said.
A total of 1,534 people were discharged from hospitals in Gujarat during the day, taking the total count of recoveries to 2,83,241. In view of a surge in the infections, the Gujarat government has made it mandatory for travellers coming from other states to carry a RT-PCR negative report not older than 72 hours.
The number of active cases in Gujarat has risen to 10,871, the health department said in a release. At 760, Surat recorded the highest number of new cases in the state during the day, followed by 612 cases in Ahmedabad, 326 in Vadodara and 172 in Rajkot, it said.
Meanwhile, 2,98,973 people were vaccinated during the day. A total of 44,29,566 people have received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in Gujarat so far while 6,29,707 beneficiaries have received the second dose, the release said.
The new wave of coronavirus in Gujarat has also hit two of the country’s premier educational institutions with IIM Ahmedabad and IIT Gandhinagar reporting active cases in double digits. The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad currently has 40 active cases of coronavirus, while IIT-G has 25 active cases, official sources said.
Gujarat’s COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 2,98,596, new cases 2,276, death toll 4,484, discharged 2,83,241, active cases 10,871, people tested so far – figures not released. The neighbouring Union Territory of Daman, Diu and Dadra Nagar Haveli reported 28 new cases and five recoveries during the day. With this, the number of active cases in the UT reached 131.
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