Gujarat: Explosion of Covid-19 cases in Kutch

Nimesh Khakhariya / TNN / Updated: May 21, 2020, 10:39 IST

An aerial view of Gandhidham town of Kutch

RAJKOT: Kutch district, which had become Covid-19 free on April 30, is seeing a sudden explosion in number of positive cases again. The district, which had recorded just six cases before April 30, has 57 Covid patients at present.

Of these, 21 tested positive on Tuesday alone.

While five out of the six cases earlier were only Madhapar taluka alone, the spread of virus this time in several talukas.

Officials said the spike is mainly due to influx of people from other cities including Mumbai.

Kutch district development officer DDO, Prabhav Joshi said, “All those who tested positive in the last two weeks have entered Kutch from outside, mostly Mumbai.

Nearly 50,000 people entered in these weeks and we are providing them institutional quarantine facility as far as possible.”

Riled at ‘outsiders’ bringing in coronavirus to Kutch again, a group of people have also started a twitter campaign with hashtag ‘Savekutch’, urging those coming here to take proper precautions and asking the district administration to screen them for virus infection before entry.

The campaign was trending among the top 10 in Gujarat.

Parikshit Thacker a businessman in Bhuj, said, “Those coming to Kutch are sons of the soil. We don’t want to oppose their entry, but the administration should screen them for Covid-19 before allowing their entry.”

Many even mooted complete ban on people coming from red zone Mumbai.