This story is from June 6, 2020

Avg cases per day double in Surat

Avg cases per day double in Surat
Surat: On May 4, during Lockdown 3.0, Surat city witnessed around 33 positive cases daily. On June 1, almost a month later under Unlock 1.0, this average has doubled, with the city recording an average 56 Covid-19 cases daily.
As on Friday, city has more than 1,900 positive cases and is counting.
“The relaxation given by the government to restart economic activities has played a major role in pushing up the number of coronavirus cases in the city,” said a senior officer in Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC).

After the fourth phase of lockdown ended on May 31, the central government started giving relaxations to various industrial activities albeit with certain conditions. But the easing of restrictions saw people coming out of their home in large numbers for work.
The city opened its Covid-19 chapter on March 16 with the first positive case and then took two months to cross the 1,000 mark, with 1,027 cases reported on May 15. However, cases have nearly doubled in the city now within a span of 20 days only.
Limbayat zone, with over 600 cases, has the highest number of Covid-19 cases followed by Katargam in the city. The ‘unlocking’ also brought in people from outside the city since June 1 via road, rail and air making it a major challenge for the administration to keep a tab on who has come in from ‘red zones’ in various cities.

“It seems like people have started believing that Covid-19 has gone out from our lives with the ease in restrictions. Sadly, it isn’t the case. While the younger people below 40 years have the required immunity to fight off the virus, it is worrisome for the elders and people with co-morbid conditions,” said Banchhanidhi Pani, municipal commissioner, Surat, talking to TOI. He said that SMC is taking every measure to contain the virus and home quarantining the hundreds of people pouring into the diamond city everyday through different routes.
According to an estimate, over 20,000 people have entered Surat city in the last few days and the influx continues.
“We have launched a massive drive to ensure that people wear face masks, maintain social distancing at public places, shops, paan parlours and other places and imposing fines too. But, it sad to see how careless the people are. Gathering in huge numbers at paan parlours, playing cricket on the streets for fun even while we are risking lives battling the virus every single day,” an SMC official said on condition of anonymity.
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