Updated: November 20, 2020 5:29:07 pm
Authorities had claimed that the Covid situation in Ahmedabad was “under control” until 10 days before Diwali.
Until hours before the first announcement of a weekend curfew by Additional Chief Secretary Rajiv Kumar Gupta via a tweet on Thursday night, the Gujarat government and Ahmedabad administration rebutted as “rumors” the messages circulating about an imminent closure after the reopening. of companies publish Diwali on Labh Pancham day. Late Thursday night few hours after announcing a night curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. in the city of Ahmedabad until the Covid situation improves, Gupta announced a ‘full curfew’ from Friday at 9pm to Monday at 6am, allowing only milk and medicine stores to remain open. The education department, which earlier in the day issued SOPs on the reopening of schools and universities on Nov. 23, withdrew the order minutes after the curfew announcement and suspended the reopening.
What was the Covid situation like before Diwali in Ahmedabad?
Authorities had claimed that the Covid situation in Ahmedabad was “under control” until 10 days before Diwali. For more than three weeks, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) had shifted its focus and resources from managing Covid to a massive city-wide anti-invasion campaign, tearing down countless illegal commercial, residential and religious structures, and re-emerging from roads.
Despite massive overcrowding in the areas of the old city where people packed the markets to shop on Diwali a week before the festival, on November 11, the AMC extended the hours of popular shopping areas from 10 p.m. to 6 p.m. midnight quoting ‘festival season’. Previously, the AMC had imposed a 10 pm to 6 am curfew on these commercial and food establishments on the grounds that the youth were “overcrowded and disobeying Covid guidelines.” style = ”color: # ff0000 ″>📣 Express Explained is now on Telegram
Between this time, through November 12, AMC had also drastically reduced its temporary test kiosks installed at major crossings from 125 to nearly 50. The reason authorities cited for this was a low average test rate at these kiosks that perform RAT tests, free of charge. This also led to cutting the daily test count in half, from 15,000 to 7,000.
What happened on Diwali?
However, at the November 12 review meeting chaired by the additional chief secretary of the department of forests and environment, Gupta, who is in charge of the Covid situation in Ahmedabad, the municipal commissioners, all the deputy commissioners and the Health officials were detained over reports of low test numbers at AMC Limits.
As of November 14, the number of covid cases reported from the city was less than 200, as it remained between 160-198. On November 12, AMC declared only four areas under micro-containment. A week before Diwali, on November 7, 161 new cases were reported in the city that increased to 210 on November 16 and 230 on November 19.
Read also | Delhi, Ahmedabad, Pune – India’s Covid Hotspots and How They Are Fighting Rising Cases
One day after the meeting, on November 13, to cope with the pressure of this increase in Covid cases in Ahmedabad, the civic body stepped up measures to increase the existing bed capacity in both private and government hospitals, together with the requisition of more private hospitals, doubling the test kiosks, adding vehicles in Covid services including Dhanvantri Rath, Sanjivani Van and 104 helpline services.
While the total bed capacity in five government-run Covid hospitals has increased from 2,800 to more than 3,250 recently, private beds have also increased from 2,700 to 4,000.
The ‘blocking’ messages
During the Diwali period, messages attributed to Senior Deputy Minister Nitin Patel and Health Minister Kumar Kanani began to circulate suggesting various types of lockdowns that could be occurring in the state, especially in cities such as Ahmedabad and Surat that have witnessed an increase in cases. . the state government remained in a denial mode calling them “rumors.” So much so that Kanani had to come out with a clarification stating that the viral message on WhatsApp, attributed to him indicating a confinement in residential societies, in the city of Surat, was false. The junior health minister posted a video clarifying that it was a false message issued to defame him and warning people not to trust him. Condemning the message issued under his name, he blamed “some notorious elements…. defame and criticize the work done by government agencies ”.
On November 18, Rajiv Kumar Gupta categorically ruled out the imposition of another lockdown, calling the messages “unfounded” and “misleading” and refuting reports of a shortage of beds for Covid patients in the city of Ahmedabad.
The curfew
After all the refusals, the state government decided to impose a “full curfew” on the city of Ahmedabad from the night of November 20 to the morning of November 23 during an evening meeting on Thursday, and decided to continue the curfew. overnight curfew thereafter.
Post this ad and in the absence of clarity on curfew, confusion and ambiguity has prevailed among residents who were seen queuing outside grocery stores, dairies, pharmacies, and vegetable stores shopping in a panic and stockpiling essential supplies.
While public transportation services, including Ahmedabad Municipal Transportation Services (AMTS) buses, would not operate during curfew hours, panic among residents was reflected in crowded bus stations offering shuttle services. buses between districts. Over the course of the day, AMC stated that no state transport bus would be allowed to leave Ahmedabad or enter. The AMC also ordered its Solid Waste Management department to crack down on those without masks. They would be screened immediately and fined 1,000 rupees if they tested negative and placed in institutional quarantine if found positive for Covid-19.
Among those confused by the curfew order were those who had traveled out of Ahmedabad for the Diwali holidays, those who had traveled out of state from Ahmedabad. Many are concerned if they would be quarantined upon their return during the curfew. Also confused are CA applicants who were supposed to take exams on Sunday and those who had planned weddings over the weekend.
What happened to Covid during this period?
Although official figures released by the state health department do not reflect a steep increase in cases in the city, decisions by AMC to reinforce beds for Covid-19 in government and private hospitals and the deployment of more ambulances suggested an increase. . The AMC added 1,300 beds to the existing 7,500, bringing the total number of beds in public and private hospitals to 8,800. It also sanctioned 300 doctors and 300 medical students for the city of Ahmedabad on Thursday. In addition, by creating additional support services, 108 ambulance vehicles were also increased from 20 to 40, with the addition of another 20.
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