On Saturday, Gujarat recorded 1,515 COVID-19 cases, the highest spike in a single day ever since the pandemic broke out. The figure was just less by 20 on Sunday.
Ahmedabad, which has contributed the highest number of cases in the state, had to be put under two-day weekend curfew while night curfew from 9 pm to 6 am has been imposed in Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot until further orders.
Is the state government actually hiding figures? If there is nothing to worry about, then why in the last couple of days emergency service 108 continued to ferry COVID-19 patients to hospitals and why patients had to be admitted to Karamsad, over 75 kilometre away from Ahmedabad?
Ahmedabad had remained a COVID-19 hotspot in the past and the Gujarat government was even pulled up by the High Court for its alleged failure in handling the situation well. A central team, headed by AIIMS-New Delhi director Dr Randeep Guleria, visited the state twice in the past and another central team visited hospitals in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
The situation has been such that additional beds have been added by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation in private hospitals.
The AMC has been putting areas under micro-containment zones where more cases are reported, but gone are the days when the arrangements have been full-proof. There are still a large number of housing societies where quarantine stickers are not pasted where COVID-19 patients are under home isolation.
Yet, the Vijay Rupani led BJP-government has maintained that the facilities are adequate and that there is nothing to worry about.
Observed Dr Bharat Ghadvi, president of Ahmedabad Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association, “The increase in number of cases can be attributed to the irresponsible people who went on a shopping spree, most of them without face masks.”
He admitted that as of now there is a shortage of beds in private hospitals, but added that 700 beds will be added in the next couple of days.
On his part, Rupani said that it is necessary to control the pandemic and appealed to the masses to not to step out of their homes without wearing a mask. He warned that the rule of levying a fine of Rs 1,000 on those not wearing mask is to be implemented strictly.
The seriousness of the situation seems to have been finally felt with 13 new deaths in 24 hours ending at 5 pm on Sunday taking the death toll to 3,859. The BJP has cancelled all its public programmes that were planned in upcoming days.
Former Gujarat chief minister Shankersinh Vaghela squarely blamed the state government and the Centre for the situation. He alleged that the government focussed on elections and other programmes like Namaste Trump earlier this year instead of focussing on controlling the pandemic.
Vaghela opined that there are so many private hospitals in the state and the authorities should ensure that patients get beds.
Another take is that the people took things lightly allegedly because the right figures were not being presented.
While people’s irresponsible behaviour has led to a large increase in the number of cases, the only silver lining is that more and more people are getting cured.
Dr. Ghadvi observed that unlike in March and April, there is improved understanding of the disease which helps in treating COVID-19.
