AHMEDABAD: At least 60 inmates of Vadodara Central Jail in Gujarat have tested positive for coronavirus infection in the last two days, an official said on Tuesday.
The jail authorities are in the process of setting up an 80-bed COVID-19 care centre inside the premises to ensure proper treatment for infected prisoners, the official said.
"We have tested over 150 inmates so far. While 17 of them were found positive on Sunday, another 43 inmates, all asymptomatic, tested positive on Monday," said Vinod Rao, an officer on special duty, who has been overseeing COVID-19 operations in Vadodara.
At present, a team of six doctors is serving full-time at the jail, he said.
Of the 82 infections detected in Vadodara on Monday, 43 cases were reported from the central jail alone, the official said.
According to a release issued by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation, Rao visited the premises on Monday and discussed ways to contain the viral spread in the central jail, which houses at least 1,000 inmates.
"An 80-bed COVID-19 care centre will be set up inside the jail premises to treat infected inmates, who are asymptomatic. This centre will become operational by the end of the week and will be run under the supervision of government-run SSG Hospital," Rao said.
The in-house facility will "ensure proper care without compromising on security and bandobast requirements", as transporting prisoners in and out of the jail for treatment is a risky affair, the official said.
The state reported 1,052 new coronavirus cases on Monday, taking the statewide tally to 56,874, while 22 more patients succumbed to the infection, nine of them in Surat, the health department said.
With the death of 22 COVID-19 patients, fatalities rose to 2,348, it said.
The number of recovered cases rose to 41,380 after 1,015 patients were discharged from hospitals across the state, the department said.
Surat reported 258 new cases, the highest in the state, followed by Ahmedabad at 184.
The number of coronavirus positive cases in Surat district rose to 12,526, while Ahmedabad's tally increased to 25,876.
Out of the 1,015 patients discharged on Monday, 463 were reported from Ahmedabad, raising the number of such cases in the district to 20,834.
Among other districts, Vadodara reported 96 new cases, Rajkot 74, Gandhinagar 34, Bhavnagar 33, Surendranagar 30, Dahod and Patan 27 each, Junagadh 26, Bharuch 24, Amreli 22, Banaskantha and Valsad 19 each, Mehsana 17, Gir Somnath, Kheda and Navsari 16 each, Anand, Kutch and Panchmahal 12 each, Mahisagar and Morbi 11 and Sabarkantha 10, among others.
With nine fatalities, Surat reported the highest number of COVID-19 deaths in the state on Monday,followed by four in Ahmedabad, three in Vadodara, two in Patan, and one each in Bhavnagar, Mehsana, Junagadh and Panchmahal, the department said.
The number of active cases in the state now stands at 13,146 with the condition of 81 patients being critical, it added.
As many as 4,73,299 persons have been quarantined.
A total 6,67,844 samples have been tested so far in the state, the department said in its release.
This included 25,474 tests conducted on Monday, which comes to 391.90 per million per day tests, it said.
Gujarat COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 56,874, new cases 1,052, deaths 2,348, discharged 41,380, active cases 13,146 and people tested so far 6,67,844.