Gandhinagar, With the states tally of Covid-19 positive cases rising to 146 on Monday, including 12 deaths, the Gujarat government has announced that maximum testing will be conducted in 15 identified hotspots under the Cluster Containment Strategy in four major cities of Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Bhavnagar.

Gujarat witnessed two more positive cases and one more death on Monday as one female (65) from Vadodara succumbed to the dreaded virus. Two ladies, aged 45 and 70, were found to be positive in Surat, taking the total number of cases in the state to 146. A total of 22 persons have been discharged so far.

Health authorities have found that out of the 39 positive cases detected in the last two days, 32 were from the Muslim dominated areas where Tablighi Jamaat members had returned from a religious congregation in Delhi's Nizamuddin area.

"The state government has announced 15 hotspots in the state's four major cities where a strict lockdown needs to be implemented," Gujarat Health Secretary Jayanti Ravi said on Monday.

"We have declared certain areas in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Bhavnagar as the hotspots. A strict lockdown will be implemented in these areas," said Ravi.

"Maximum testing will be carried out in these clusters. Every positive case has been admitted to the hospital, but all those who have been in contact with such cases will be tested. These areas will be sanitised. Surveillance in these areas will be intensified by the local municipal corporation and police officials," added Ravi.

He said that over 14,000 people stay in these hotspots across the four cities.

"A second round of survey will be carried out by the health department. We will now focus on the rural areas," added Ravi.

The maximum number of cases has surfaced in Ahmedabad (64), followed by Surat (19), Gandhinagar and Bhavnagar (13 each), Vadodara (12), Rajkot (10), Porbandar (3), Kutch, Mehsana, Patan and Gir-Somnath (2 each) and one each in Panchmahal, Chhota Udepur, Jamnagar and Morbi.