Gujarat reported six cases of Covid-19 on Thursday, two from each of Ahmedabad and Bhavnagar Municipal Corporations and one from each of the tribal districts of Dahod and Tapi. This information came amid concerns that the new virus variant, BF.7 may be causing an increase in cases. There are 27 active cases in the state.
A Taiwanese woman who had flown from Australia to Gujarat for her wedding in Rajkot tested positive on Wednesday and an IT professional and his two-year-old daughter who had come home to Bhavnagar from Shanghai also tested positive on Thursday.
“The woman is the fiancée of a man from Rajkot who, like her, lives in Australia. The couple landed in Ahmedabad on December 18 and drove to their home in Rajkot. On December 19, the woman got symptoms. She got herself tested on December 20. Her samples returned positive for Covid-19 Wednesday,” said Dr Jayesh Vakani, municipal officer of health (Moh) of Rajkot Municipal Corporation, adding she is in isolation.
“The man has no symptoms and has tested negative,” he added.
According to the MoH, the woman’s sample has been sent to Gandhinagar’s Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC) for virus genome sequencing.
A 35-year-old Shanghai-based IT professional and his 2-year-old daughter tested positive in Bhavnagar on Thursday, a few hours after they arrived.
“The professional, his 35-year-old wife and their daughter landed in Mumbai from Shanghai on Tuesday. The same day, they flew to Bhavnagar. He developed cough and fever on Wednesday,” said Dr RK Sinha, MoH of Bhavnagar Municipal Corporation (BMC), adding his results came positive Thursday.
The family has isolated themselves, the man’s wife and child both tested positive. The samples had been sent to GBRC for genome sequencing, he said.