With 10 out of the 11 COVID-19 cases from Gujarat's hotspot Ahmedabad emerging from Muslim community, Gujarat on Monday exhorted community leaders to appeal to their communities to adhere to lockdown. Claiming that the spurt in cases is caused by the people who attended a programme in Nizamuddin, principal secretary health and family welfare Jayanti Ravi said that, except one, all the cases recorded on Monday from Ahmedabad are from the Muslim community. Majority of them have a travel history to New Delhi.
On Sunday, DGP Shivanand Jha said that out of the many persons who went to Nizamuddin, 126 have been identified. The total number of COVID-19 positive cases in Gujarat stand at 144. So far, 11 persons have lost battle to the deadly virus. Jayanti said that they will appeal to the maulvis, social and influential leaders of the community to appeal them to adhere to the lockdown and keep social distancing. There is no need to step out, and appeal can be made by using social media, she added.
Mass quarantines have been effected in the areas of Ahmedabad, Surat and Bhavnagar where the number of cases have been more. According to Jayanti, testing has also been intensified in these areas. She said that people should not ignore high fever that lasts for two days, and report to the doctors.
Out of the 144 cases, 64 cases have been from Ahmedabad, 17 from Surat, 13 each from Bhavnagar and Gandhinagar, 12 from Vadodara, 10 from Rajkot and the rest from other cities.