As many as 30 out of Gujarat’s 33 districts have reported Covid-19 cases with Ahmedabad being the worst-hit in the state. Ahmedabad accounted for 2,554 of Gujarat’s 3,774 cases as of Tuesday when 226 more people were diagnosed with the disease.
In Maharashtra, which has reported the highest number of Covid-19 cases, 30 out of 36 districts have been hit by the pandemic. Covid-19 cases have been reported from 25 of the 52 districts in Madhya Pradesh.
Ahmedabad reported the highest number of new cases (164) on Tuesday followed by Vadodara (15) and Surat (14) and took the total number of the cases in the three districts to 2,543, 570, and 255.
All 19 fatalities were reported from Ahmedabad since Monday and took the death toll from the pandemic in the state to 181. “Fifteen of the deceased were suffering from comorbid conditions,” said Gujarat’s principal secretary (health) Jayanthi Ravi. He said there is no reason to worry as the spread has not been as fast as reported from other countries.
Dr Parthiv Mehta, a pulmonologist, said comorbidity was one of the reasons for the higher mortality. “Gujarat has the highest number of people with diabetes, heart diseases, obesity, high blood pressure. Most of the deceased had comorbidities so that is why we can say that people in the state are not dying because of Covid-19 but instead dying with it,” said Mehta.
{{/usCountry}}Dr Parthiv Mehta, a pulmonologist, said comorbidity was one of the reasons for the higher mortality. “Gujarat has the highest number of people with diabetes, heart diseases, obesity, high blood pressure. Most of the deceased had comorbidities so that is why we can say that people in the state are not dying because of Covid-19 but instead dying with it,” said Mehta.
{{/usCountry}}Mehta said another reason for higher mortality is the prevalence of L strain of the Covid-19 instead of the S in Gujarat. “What I can predict is that while S strain was majorly prevalent in Kerala, L is more prevalent in Gujarat. So mostly the old aged people with comorbidities with this L-strain are succumbing to the virus more. Also, another reason behind the high number of cases is the number of tests the state government is doing.”