Surat records 204 cases, five deaths; tally at 10,134, toll climbs to 461

SURAT: Surat city has become the second in the state after Ahmedabad to cross 10,000-mark in Covid-19 cases on Monday with 204 more testing positive.
The city now has a total 10,134 Covid-19 cases with the major spike coming in June- July alone.
Five more Covid-19 patients succumbed to the virus taking the death toll to 461 in the city.
When unlock-0.1 began on June 1, Surat city had 1,597 Covid-19 cases and 70 deaths.In the month of June, cases touched 4,713, an increase of 3,116 in a month, and death toll mounted to 173.
According to Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) officials, Rander and Athwa civic zones are turning into new Covid-19 hotspots as they have reported the highest cases in the city in the last one week. On Monday too, Rander reported 42 fresh cases followed by Athwa zone that saw 39 cases. Athwa, which is considered to be a posh area, is inching closer to the 1,000 mark and has reported 958 cases till date.
The city had recorded its first Covid-19 positive case on March 16 and it took two months to cross the 1,000 mark. On May 15, Surat reported 1,027 Covid-19 cases.
After the fourth lockdown ended on May 31, the central government had started giving relaxations to various industrial activities with certain conditions. But these relaxations also triggered a spike in cases as people started pouring out of their homes.
In the first week of May, Surat city had been witnessing around 33 cases per day. But now, this average has gone over 200 per day.
"Majority of the cases have been reported from the diamond and textile units as people work in congested environments without proper ventilations. Moreover, social distancing rules were not followed in many diamond units, which triggered a spike in Katargam and Varachha (A) zones,” an official said.
According to an estimate, over 1,500 cases have been reported from the diamond industry and over 1,200 from the textile industry.
With the situation worsening, the city is back to square one as industrial units and many residential areas are observing voluntary lockdown to stall the spread. The state transport bus service along with private buses operating from Surat have been suspended from Monday for the 10 days in the wake of Covid-19 spread.