Gandhinagar,  One more person died on Friday in Ahmedabad due to corona virus infection, taking the death toll in Gujarat to 9. Till Friday, 95 persons have been found positive in the state.

Another corona positive male from Panchmahal also died on Friday morning.

The number of corona positive cases are increasing in Gujarat, especially in Ahmedabad. After a male (78) from Godhra, (Panchmahal) died on Friday morning, another male (67) too succumbed to the dreaded disease of COVID-19 in the evening.

Informing the media, Jayanti Ravi, Principal Secretary, Health and family welfare Department, said, "The deceased from Ahmedabad Sola Civil Hospital was also comorbid with ailments like diabetes and hypertension. With his death, the number of deaths due to corona virus is 9 in the state. The total of COVID-19 deaths in Ahmedabad is 4."

"Out of the total patients admitted, the conditions of 75 is stable and only one is critical, who is on ventilator," added Ravi.

Due to the rising numbers of positive cases and deaths in the state, the health authorities have intensified the cluster containment strategy.

"We are reviewing this strategy -- the entire area is be sealed strictly, while ensuring the supply of essential commodities. There will be active surveillance in these clusters, where going from door-to-door, the health authorities will be screening, each member of the families through thermal scanners. They will be accompanied by local municipal corporation authorities as well as police personnel. We appeal to people to coorporate," added Ravi.

"We have identified 21 clusters in Ahmedabad. The local authority will decide which area needs to be cordoned and strictly quarantined," added Ravi.

On the state's preparedness for the outbreak, the Secretary showed confidence that the state was fully prepared.

"We have adequate ventilators in the state 1,061 ventilators are in government healthcare facilities, while 1,700 are in private hospitals. The mapping of shifting of these ventilators in situation of crisis has also been carried out. We also have adequate stock of 'hydroxychloroquine' and 'azithromycin' which is found to be very effective in Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI) which is a symptom off COVID-19," added Ravi.

"Right now, we have adequate stock of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) kits in the state but we are going to procure more. Deputy Chief Minister, Nitin Patel has contacted all the manufacturers in Gujarat and had a talk with them. We also received 3,000 kits from Delhi today," said Ravi.

Earlier in the day, a male (78) from Godhra, (Panchmahals), admitted in the Savita hospital, Vadodara for Corona died in the morning.

Four people, including a 7-year-old girl, all from a single family, had been found positive from Bhnderi Pol in Kalupur area of Ahmedabad. A 68-year-old male from Kalupur with travel history to Delhi had also been found positive. A male (62) and another male (17) both from Bapunagar were also found positive in Ahmedabad on Friday.

The total number of positive cases in Gujarat is 95. Maximum cases registered are in Ahmedabad: 38 (4 deaths, 5 cured), followed by Surat: 12 (1 death, 3 cured), Gandhinagar: 11, Rajkot: 10 (1 cured), Vadodara: 9 (1 death, 1 cured), Bhavnagar: 7 (2 deaths), Porbandar: 3, Gir Somnath: 2, and one each in Kutch, Mehsana and Panchmahals (1 death).

"We are also planning to increase the number of testing for the virus, especially in the cluster found in the state under the Cluster Containment Strategy. We have taken total 135 samples today and all of them are negative. So far we have taken 1,998 samples out of which 1,901 are negative, 95 positive and 2 are pending," added Ravi in the evening.

"The total number of quarantined in the state is 16,015, where 14,868 are home-quarantined, 880 in government facilities and 267 in private facilities. Total 418 FIR have been filed for violation of quarantine orders in the state," said Ravi.