Week-long curfew in 5 Surat areas after spurt in cases

Gandhinagar, April 16 (IANS) After a spike in coronavirus cases on Thursday morning in Surat, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani decided to impose a week-long curfew in five areas of the city from midnight.

"The curfew will be in five police station jurisdictions of Salabatpura, Mahidharpura, Lalgate and Athwa. The fifth area is in the jurisdiction of Kamrunagar police chowky under the Limbayat police station," Ashwani Kumar, Secretary at the Chief Minister's Office (CMO), said on Thursday.

"The curfew will start at 6 a.m. on Friday and continue till 6 a.m. on April 22. The Gujarat Police will enforce the curfew. The decision has been taken to curb the spread of coronavirus," Kumar said.

Like Ahmedabad, relaxation to buy essential commodities, like milk, vegetables, grain and medicines, would be allowed only to women between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m, added Kumar.

Even as the number of Covid-19 cases has been on the rise in Gujarat, following intensification of surveillance and testing, number of cases in Surat was less compared with other major cities till Wednesday.

But on Thursday morning, 35 new cases were reported after intensified testing in the past 12 hours.

The Chief Minister also reviewed the Covid-19 situation at a meeting with Chief Secretary Anil Mukim, Directorate General of Police (DGP) Shivanand Jha and Additional Chief Secretary Sangeeta Singh. It was also attended by the Surat Municipal Commissioner, the Police Commissioner and the Collector through video link.

The meeting decided to intensify the surveillance in certain areas to identify each and every case of coronavirus infection.

Gujarat is inching towards the 1,000-mark with 871 Covid-19 cases and 36 deaths. At 86 Surat has the third highest number of cases in the state, after Ahmedabad's 492 and Vadodara's 127.

--IANS

amc/pcj