On Thursday, the state of Gujarat reported 4,213 new cases of Covid-19, prompting the health department to call for all hands on deck, cancelling employee leaves with immediate effect.
The state government announced in a press release that all employees of the health department have been ordered to report to work with their leaves revoked, effective immediately. Leaves will not be granted in the near future unless “unavoidable circumstances” arise as a result of the Covid-19 situation, with “transmission of the disease likely to increase in the near future.”
With the rise in cases, a slew of events scheduled in Ahmedabad and other parts the state, including the International Kite Festival, now stand suspended or cancelled.
Ahmedabad city reported 1,835 new cases on Thursday against the 1,637 cases it reported a day ago and Surat reported nearly double the new infections than it did a day ago — from 690 to 1,193.
While Ahmedabad’s weekly test positivity rate now stands at 11.6 per cent according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Surat has managed to control its weekly test positivity rate at 2.9 per cent.
The International Kite Festival, which was scheduled to take place in Ahmedabad from January 8 to 13, has been cancelled, and the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has cancelled its Annual Flower Show, citing a “rapid increase in Covid-19 cases in the state.” The Flower Show was scheduled to take place from January 8 to January 23.
Ahmedabad city added 16 new micro-containment zones, bringing the city’s total to 108. The majority of the micro-contained households (46 out of a total of 64) were located in the north west zone areas of Bodakdev and Bopal.
Minister of State of Home department Harsh Sanghavi announced on Twitter that NaMo Job Fair, held every year on the occasion of Sanghavi’s birthday, has been cancelled “as per the growing Covid cases” and added that “new dates of the Job Fair will be announced soon.”
The job fair was scheduled to be held in Surat on January 8. Sanghavi, in a video message, posted on Twitter added that “we are trying that with the medium of technology, those youths who registered for the job fair, can be interviewed by the recruiting companies”.
According to a statement, the 42nd Saptak Annual Music Festival in Ahmedabad, organised by the Saptak School of Music, which began on January 1 and was scheduled to end on January 13, was “temporarily halted” due to the Covid situation.
The music school also stated that it “will review the situation and decide” on the remaining festival sessions later.