'Government's Covid-19 death figure of Surat city is authentic,' claims Gujarat CM Rupani

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Saturday brushed aside reports suggesting that the actual number of deaths from Covid-19 was much higher than the figure being released by the government in Surat which is emerging as a new hotspot for coronavirus infection. The Chief Minister, who visited the city along with his deputy Nitin Patel and several IAS officers to check the city's preparedness to tackle the infection, said that the government's data was authentic.

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Local reports on Saturday had suggested that last rites of 625 dead bodies were performed as per Covid-19 guidelines but the actual number of deaths in government news bullet was much less. While addressing the media after holding meetings with officers supervising the situation, the Chief Minister said that he was aware of such a report. "I only want to say that the government figure on the number of deaths is genuine," he said while adding that "the rest of the patients were Covid-19 suspected cases which, after the last rites, turned out to be negative. Such precaution is being taken so that the virus doesn't spread."

The report claimed that since July 2, last rites of over 625 dead bodies were performed as per the Covid-19 protocol but the number of deaths shown was only 195. A senior IAS officer, who is supervising the pandemic in Surat, told DH, "These were all suspected cases who died before their test results could arrive. Once we get the result we update the data. There is no question of hiding death figures."

The Chief Minister, meanwhile, said that the rise in cases in Surat was mainly due to workers employed in diamond and textile factories. He denied imposing fresh restrictions in the city but said that if social distancing norms are found to be violative, the factories will be closed. Rupani also announced that 200 ventilators will be sent to Surat in coming days. The city has 5,461 positive cases out of which 198 have succumbed to the infection. For the past four days, the city is witnessing over 200 positive cases per day.

Rupani announced that two under construction hospitals will be completed within a month which will be turned into a Covid-19 hospital. Besides, Rupani also claimed that the situation in Ahmedabad is improving as the number of new cases and casualties are decreasing. He said that now the focus of the government is to check the infection in Surat and other districts where the cases are rising.

Meanwhile, Gujarat reported 712 new covid-19 cases on Saturday, its biggest single-day spike till date which took the total caseload to 35, 398. The death toll rose to 1927 with the death of 21 more patients. Number of discharged persons rose to 25,414 while total tests conducted till Saturday stood at 4,04,354. Surat topped the list with 201 cases in urban limits while 52 cases in the district. Ahmedabad, on the other hand, recorded its lowest 164 in the city and 7 cases in the district.

The state government in its evening news bulletin stated that "For the past three days, over 20,000 cases are being reported in the country everyday. The numbers are increasing in states such as Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Talangana, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. "Compare to these seven states of India, Gujarat has reported lowest cases." However, the comparison doesn't mention the number of testing done in all these states.