Gujarat government decides to increase COVID-19 testing, vaccination

Ahmedabad, Mar 17: The Gujarat government on Wednesday said that as part of the measures to control the spread of coronavirus, it has decided to increase the number of daily testing and vaccination besides putting special focus on contact tracing and increasing the number of micro containment areas wherever necessary.

This was decided at a core committee meeting held to review the pandemic situation in the state on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Chief MinisterVijay Rupani. It was held hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi conducted a video conference meeting with the chief ministers on the issue.

During the meeting, it was decided to assign the responsibility of four metros in the state - Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Rajkot - to senior officers to offer guidance to the local bodies.

Rupani said that the number of COVID-19 tests will be increased and the vaccine doses will be given to three lakh beneficiaries everyday as against one-and-a-half lakh presently by increasing the number of centres and extending the timing till 9 pm, a release issued by the Chief Minister's Office said.

"Special focus will be given to contact tracing and increasing the number of containment zones wherever necessary," it said. Rupani also instructed the Home Department to strictly implement the rules of mandatory face masks and social distancing.

"In view of the increasing cases of coronavirus transmission in four metros in the state, the responsibility of these cities has been handed over to four senior officers on an urgent basis to offer guidance to the local bodies to control the infection and take treatment measures," it said.

The responsibility of Ahmedabad has been assigned the Additional Chief Secretary Rajiv Gupta, vadodara to Education Secretary Vinod Rao, Rajkot to Industry Commissioner Rahul Gupta, and Surat to GIDC Managing Director N Thennarasan.

Amid the spike in COVID-19 cases, the Ahmedabad civic body has decided to shut its city bus service- AMTS and BRTS - from Thursday, said its PRO. Public gardens, as well as zoo, lakefront, and Sabarmati riverfront have also been closed for the public, the Ahmedabad civic body said.

Gujarat Wednesday reported 1,122 new COVID-19 cases, out of which the four districts of Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot and vadodara alone accounted for 850 cases.