Ahmedabad, June 8 A steady surge in Covid cases has prompted authorities in Gujarat to ramp up testing and tracking of Covid cases.

The state’s financial capital, Ahmedabad, has started testing travellers arriving in the city by rail or bus.

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) is setting up testing kiosks at railway stations and state transport bus terminals.

"We have to set up testing centres at health centres as well as railway and bus stations to test those arriving in the city. We are testing about 2,000 samples a day, of which about 40 have tested positive," said Dr Bhavin Solanki, Medical Officer of Health - AMC.

This puts the city's daily test positivity at about 2-2.5 per cent, which is higher than the national average of 1.67 per cent. The civic body has asked citizens to maintain caution and use protective gear such as masks. However, there has been no directive mandating the use of masks or other restrictions.

The key concerns, state health officials said, is the poor compliance of Covid-appropriate behaviour and adequate vaccination coverage.

An official at one of the private sector hospitals in Ahmedabad said several doses of Covishield remained unused with them, as fewer people were taking precaution doses. "There is a false sense of confidence and security among the people about the severity of the infections. The virus is still around and it could mutate," said the official.

Gujarat has recorded a steady rise in the number of new cases, but hospitalisation has been low across. According to the health department data, the state has 363 active cases, all of which are stable, requiring no ventilator support.

Ahmedabad (44) reported the highest number of daily cases, followed by Surat (7), Vadodara (7) and Rajkot (3). The state as a whole reported 72 new cases on Tuesday, while 43,800 people were vaccinated on the day.

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