Industries to open in Rajkot; Ahmedabad eases restrictions

The Gujarat government has decided to allow businesses and industries to function in Rajkot, except the containment areas, from Thursday.

The decision was taken by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Tuesday after the district reported no fresh cases.

A government spokesperson said the Rajkot collector will give conditional permissions, adding that the business establishments and industries will have to maintain social distancing and get tests of their employees done. They will have to have a staggered time for lunch hours of their employees.

Ashwani Kumar, secretary to the CM, said that though Rajkot was in orange zone, as a precautionary measure no such activity was allowed for a week. There has not been a single COVID-19 positive case from Rajkot municipal limits in the last one week, he said.

The chief minister also had a video conference with district collectors, municipal commissioners, police commissioners and range inspector generals of police to discuss an exit strategy after lockdown 3.0.

Relaxation in Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has decided to allow grocery stores, fruits and vegetable stores and flour mills to open from 8 am to 3 pm from Friday. 

No employees from the containment zones will be allowed to be on duty and the employees and owners will have to have health screening cards, which will have to be renewed after every one week.

The AMC's earlier decision of stopping the sale of vegetables, fruits and groceries as the sellers were categorized as “superspreaders” had received flak from various quarters. The moment it made the announcement on Tuesday, there were thousands of people on the roads, without paying any heed to social distancing norms.

‘Situation under control’

Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Jayanti Ravi said that the situation in Ahmedabad and Gujarat was under control and on Tuesday the number patients discharged was more than the number of new cases.

In the last 24 hours that ended at 5 pm on Tuesday, 466 persons were discharged and 362 new cases were recorded. She informed that 24 persons had lost battle to COVID-19, taking the death toll in the state to 537.

Jayanti said that the discharge rate of Gujarat was better than the national rate.