Gujarat government not in favour of lockdown: CM Vijay Rupani

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Saturday reiterated that there won’t be any lockdown in the state despite the rise in coronavirus cases. He also denied reports that the state government was hiding true data on the count of fatalities caused by Covid-19.

“We imposed lockdown last year because at that time we did not know how to fight Covid-19. Treatment protocols were also not well-defined, the number of beds had to be increased, PPE kits and necessary medicines were also required. So the lockdown imposed last year helped us develop the entire system. But this is not the case right now. So I believe lockdown is not needed,” Rupani said.

However, the Gujarat High Court on Tuesday said that there is a dire need for lockdown-like restrictions in the state, given the surge in Covid-19 cases. The court had suggested that curfew be imposed in the state for three to four days. Alternatively, weekend curfew could help to control the Covid-19 situation in the state, it added.

After flagging off 20 new ”Dhanvantari” vans which will conduct coronavirus tests in public places, Rupani said many villages, housing societies and market organisations in Gujarat have declared lockdowns in their respective areas.

“If any market association imposes a lockdown at a local level or if any village imposes such a measure, it is welcome to do so,” he said.

Rupani also assured that the state government has made arrangements for hospital beds, oxygen, Remdesivir injections and other facilities to treat patients.

“As per the guidelines of the ICMR, if a comorbid patient dies then a committee of experts decides the primary and secondary causes of such death. If that committee identifies the main cause of the death as a heart attack then even though the patient was infected, such death is not counted as caused by coronavirus. The same system is followed in the entire country,” Rupani said.

Meanwhile, Gujarat’s COVID-19 tally rose by over 5,000 cases in a day for the first time on Saturday as 5,011 people were detected with the infection, while the day also saw 49 deaths, which equalled a single-day record of fatalities set in May last year, PTI reported.

The state’s caseload stands at 3,42,026, including 4,746 deaths, while the recovery count rose to 3,12,151, or 91.27 per cent of the tally, after 2,525 people were discharged during the day.

The state has 25,129 active cases, including 192 on ventilator support.

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