Most parts of Gujarat are back to normal: Rupani

Prime Minister Vijay Rupani interacts with patients and doctors via videoconferencing from the CM Board Command Control Center in Gandhinagar. (Express photo)

Prime Minister Vijay Rupani told Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the video conference of the chief ministers on Monday that, except for six municipal corporations, most of the state had returned to normal.

According to a senior official, he told the prime minister: “156 cities, two areas of municipal corporations, and almost all villages have returned to normal during the ongoing blockade.” Discussing the strategy to ease after the third closure ends on May 17, Rupani also told the prime minister that “industries, businesses and agricultural activities were in full development, except in six cities in Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara , Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Gandhinagar. ” A senior state government official told The Indian Express.

Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar have been under severe blockade until May 15 and May 17, respectively, and only stores selling milk and medicine are allowed to open.

The cities of Ahmedabad and Surat, which have the highest number of cases in Gujarat, have received visits from core teams during the shutdown. Last week, AIIMS Director Dr. Randeep Guleria visited Ahmedabad and, in an interaction with the media, suggested that the blockade cannot be an indefinite strategy.

On Monday, another team of officials led by additional Deputy Director General Dr. Alok Mathur and Dr. Nareshkumar Gile, assistant director of the national vector-borne disease control program, visited Surat to review the way forward after the closing.

Rupani also assured Modi that surveillance was in full swing and that super spreaders were being identified, sources added. When asked if the CM had suggested that the state does not want to continue with the post-May 17 blockade, the official said: “We will follow what the Center tells us.”

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